Friday, May 25, 2007

Okay so I am a day late and a dollar short but I promise I will have a Diggers review sometime in the next 24 hours. Until then, I would like to make a comment or two about a novel I just read. Yeah that's right I said "novel I just read." I used to read like a fiend when I was younger especially around the time of my discovery of Chuck Palahniuk which was as far back as the summer of '99. However over time film and music completely began to overpower the literature, which now I find a bit sad. I forgot how great it was to finish a engrossing novel. Which leads me to this...

Man is this a killer book. Ryu Murakami (not to be confused with the more popular Hikaru Murakami) is a underrated and quite unknown Japanese writer here in the states. His most popular novels released and translated in English are Almost Transparent Blue (a brilliant book which reminds you very much of the writings of J.G. Ballard) and Coin Locker Babies (a novel I have owned forever but never have really sat down to read...oddly enough I recently bought it as a birthday gift for one of my best buddies, Nate). People may or may not know him also as the madman behind the book Audition which was turned into a very successful horror film by the almighty Takashi Miike.

Piercing, which I just found out was originally released in Japan over 13 years ago, is one hell of a page turner. It follows a man with a sudden urge to stab his newborn baby night after night and instead plans a trip to the city to hatch a murder to get his mind off things. Enter Chiaki (yes, the same name as my wife), who seems to be the wrong victim for his plans. From there on all hell breaks loose and you won't want to put the novel down.

Yeah, you can say the book is a bit disturbing, but man is it a great read. Go run to Borders and pick it up now, please! Me I am off to find my Coin Locker Babies novel and dig write in. Speaking of dig, I will be back with my Diggers review shortly....promise!

2 comments:

adgy said...

I just finished Murakami's "In The Miso Soup" the other day, and it was one of the craziest books I've ever read. LOVED "Coin Locker Babies", though, and I am definitely going to go pick this up!!

Aaron said...

I have "In the Miso Soup" too. What do you think I should read first, "soup" or "coin"?