In the Miso Soup

This was a fantastic read! It's been a while since I read Ryū Murakami and I had this book on my want to read list for a while now. I knew I liked Ryū Murakami, and I knew what type of books I'm getting from him, but I kind of forgot how intense they were.

The novel builds up beautifully, it makes you wonder what's coming next. You are intrigued about the characters, and, at least for me, it went in an unexpected direction. Of course, about half way through the novel I made the horrible mistake of looking up if there's a movie made after the book and I accidentally read some of the synopsis and that ruined it for me a bit. What can you do. I did manage to read it, though, so it's not a complete loss, I'd say.

And really, regarding the film I could only find some news about being one in the making, but I don't think I would want to watch it. I might, though. Reading this book I got a new understanding of Japanese horror films in general, I understand them better, but at the same time, I think it would be really hard to translate what the characters go through from book to screen. Their reactions are so natural, in a way, but on screen they might come across as bizarre and wouldn't make sense. I don't see how a movie could do justice to In The Miso Soup.

The book is narrated by Kenji and I liked a lot reading what and how he thought, about what was happening and him describing what he was seeing. Fair warning here: at some point things get really graphic. I actually found it disturbing, but in a curious kind of way. I did find myself liking the unusual comparisons and descriptions. Also, how can you even think about some of that stuff in the first place? I was surprised and kind of shocked at the same time.

The ending was brilliant as far as I'm concerned.

I liked the analogy and, weirdly, it made perfect sense. It came as some sort of realisation. I think I understand Kenji, it all feels almost normal. What a weird thing.

There were a few comments and remarks I didn't quite like, but I don't think I should go into them anyway, so I am going to ignore all that and instead just say that In The Miso Soup is a brilliant novel and definitely a good read for any fan of horror or of Ryū Murakami. I recommend reading it in one sitting (although I didn't do that) and, preferably, don't read the synopsis beforehand.