IN THE MISO SOUP, the latest novel from AUDITION screenwriter Ryu Murakami, is a dark, Japanese-noir trip through Tokyo’s sex districts. With a premise like that, the reader would naturally expect a book packed with sleazy vicarious thrills. Unfortunately, IN THE MISO SOUP does not deliver.
Our protagonist is an easy-going guy named Kenji, who makes a meager living as a guide for Western tourists looking to get laid. Most of Kenji’s clients are American men in town for business. They call him up, he finds out what they are into and then he takes them to the right place. Kenji’s latest client is a very strange American named Frank. From the outset, Kenji senses that something just isn’t right about him and as they spend more time together, Frank just continues to get weirder.
The first half of the book works as an travelogue-style introduction to the Tokyo sex industry. For such a long chunk of what is essentially pure exposition, it works pretty well. The action progresses naturally from peep shows to hostess bars. Kenji takes Frank around, learns about his weird predilections and tries to find the right girl for him. The tension slowly builds throughout the night as Frank gets progressively creepier. Based on Murakami’s descriptions, he may even be some kind of inhuman monster.
At the end of their first night on the town, Frank has a complete meltdown at an all-night batting cage, but Kenji agrees to meet him for another “tour” the following night. Frank goes back to his hotel and Kenji goes home to his hot teenage girlfriend. Kenji is really freaked out by this guy and even suspects that he might be a serial killer who has been operating in the area. Then he finds a piece of what might be bloody skin stuck to his door. You’d think all his time spent in the Tokyo underworld would make Kenji into a tougher guy, but he is a little wimp. However, despite all of this, he still takes Frank out for another “tour” the following night.
On night number two, things get worse and finally we get a scene or two of serious blood-spewing carnage. Kenji is so unnerved he is unable to escape Frank, so they go into hiding together. Considering these guys are on the run after an extremely bloody killing spree, there is very little tension. Instead, they talk. Kenji is a freaked-out little bitch and Frank is in love with his own voice. Frank talks and talks and Kenji whimpers and tries to figure out a way out of this situation and back to the teenage ass he’s got waiting for him at home. The book meanders through the rest of its 224 pages to an unsatisfactorily maudlin conclusion on a bridge.
Considering the subject matter, MISO is surprisingly chaste. I’m sure there is a big sociopolitical point that Murakami is making here – something to do with the evil of American culture – but the story itself just wasn’t interesting enough to make me care. –Chris Sharpe
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Greg Keyes delivers another great STAR WARS novel with 
After getting bogged down in Kathy Tyers’ meandering 
This book almost broke my resolve to read and review 
I was reading 
