Book Review: 3 of 24

Piercing
by Ryū Murakami
Barnes & Noble link

(This was a library borrow. Two down, four to go. This also will be the last review that will be lacking quotes from the book, since I keep forgetting to do that.)

Ryu Murakami is no stranger to writing novels that will make readers squirm in their seats (please refer to Almost Transparent Blue, Audition [yes, that one], and In the Miso Soup... but with caution). Compared to the more popular Haruki Murakami and his surrealistic settings, Ryū Murakami could be almost the shock jock of modern Japanese literature, especially with his focus on sexual violence, drug addiction, and deviant behaviors. But calling Murakami (referring to the author of Piercing from this point on) that would be missing the point of his work. If readers looked past the violence and sexuality and drugs, they would discover something just as hideous as a growing pool of rich red blood: people can be terrible.