Title: In the Miso Soup
Author: Ryu Murakami
Category: Fiction
Page Count: 192
Rating: 4.5/5
I was recommended this book by a musician friend of mine called Robert Honour, after he talked about it in the interview we did for my radio show on Wycombe Sound. He said that it was the last book that he’d read and that it was excellent, although he also warned me not to read it before bed. Not that I’d let that stop me.
Basically, the story follows a young Japanese man who works in the sex tourism industry, showing rich American clients the sights and acting as interpreter for them when they go to the brothels and peep shows. The problem is that his patron seems a little bit nuts, and it’s possible that he’s actually a serial killer.
I don’t want to say too much more because I don’t want to spoil it, although I will say that it’s not one to read if you have a delicate stomach. There’s some fantastic gore here and some vivid descriptions of despicable acts, which is why I liked it.