コインロッカー・ベイビーズ

Interesting book worth reading if you like books with a good imagination

The strange and fun journey through the lives of two boys abandoned in train station coin lockers at birth. More engaging story than Almosy
Transparent
Blue, the only other Ryu Murakami book I've read, although the language (possibly because of translation) isn't at the same level.

If you like his other work you'll love this and if you want to read some alternative japanese fiction for the first time you'll do no wrong with this...then read miso soup!!

This book was weird, but I finished it because it was interesting enough to read. I feel like a lot of the plot is really pointless, meant-to-shock stuff though. My overall feelings about this book were "Eh... I wouldn't read it twice."

Severely twisted tale of two boys who ended up in the adoption process in Japan, only to embark on wildly different and interesting lives before they decide to take vengeance on the mothers who abandoned them inside coin lockers when they were infants. Truly imaginative, vividly written novel with the highest recommendation to anyone with an interest in Japanese culture or a fascination with dark, unpredictable stories. Highest recommendation!!! Murakami's IN THE MISO SOUP is also a really kickass book.

Arrived in time but the cover detached from the inside of the book almost immediatedly as it is poorly glued on. And also this image did not reflect the cover of the book i received.

One of the stranger books I've ever read. Murakami doesn't disappoint. Bizarre characters and situations abound. The rough and tumble narrative purrs along at a steady pace and it wears it's 80's punk lit credentials like a badge of honor. Not a classic but a good and fun read.

Japan's second Murakami, Ryu, is highly regarded in literary circles, but his books are dark and depressing. This tome is probably the best of his English translations but overall is a tiresome read. Ryu also dabbles in film as a movie director and if you lean towards X-rated films and the dehumanization of women, TOKYO DECADENCE is right up your alley. Maybe I'm missing something but his style is not for me. Would not recommend this to anyone quite frankly.

Interesting - but really weird.

Well, I hardly know where to begin, but I'll keep it short. I bought this because I am fascinated by Japan's abandoned Hashima Island (or, "Ship Island"), where a portion of the story takes place. (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashima_Island) Sometimes interesting - especially the island parts - but usually strobe-light fast plot devices and characters that are difficult to engage in. The overall tone for me was apocalyptic-sociopathic-emo. An exceedingly wild and improbable ride. I think I'm just too old for it.

A most fascinating, imaginative book that takes the reader so many places it is almost dizzifying. Highly recommend it to fans of the contemporary Japanese novel. Murakami fans such as myself would enjoy.

It is hard to describe this book without giving the plot away. Yet, I can say that once you start reading this book it will be hard to put down. I read that there was a movie in the works for this book but I have not heard anything about it for a while now. Its probably better that they don't turn this book into a movie. It will take away its intensity.

The translation of this book is pretty good for the most part but every once in a while you will come up with something that might sound a little bit off. If you have lived in Japan before or are famliar with Japanese culture this will make sense to you. If you are not these minor things do not affect the story overall. This book is very graphic and some of the violence and even the sexual acts in here might gross some people out.
Keep in mind this is the same writer that gave us Audition and Almost Transparent Blue. I recommend this book 100%. Ryu Murakami is awesome!

An amazing book, so far. I haven't finished it, but I love RM's writing style, characterization, and the heartbreaking quality of the stories behind each person.

Having read all of Murakami`s other books, this his first i believe i read last, and it is probably his best? difficult to say as i love Piercing also, but this book is a psychedelic onslaught on the brain, every page is dripping with detail, and Murakami takes you to some amazing places, so descriptive, nothing is lost in translation, this book you will not be able to put down! As far as telling you what its about, nah, read it yourself!

I was very excited about getting this book, my first book by Ryu Murakami! So when I got it, I dove right into it. This book has its pros and cons, like most books, of course. First, the characters are so insane but lovable, I find myself (even after finishing the book) thinking about them. This books hows the true grittiness of Tokyo, Japan. Sex, drugs, and music make a perfect match, don't they? Sometimes I DID get annoyed with some of the characters because of their actions, because this book is very twisted, very dark, most of their actions weren't very....good. I couldn't put it down for the first few days, but as I reached towards the middle, I realized: Wow, this book kinda drags on. Yes, the book goes a bit slow, and there can be boring parts...I put the book down for almost two weeks without reading it. Then I picked it back up and became engrossed again. So it took me a little while to finish it. But in the end, the book was fantastic and now I'm a strong supporter of Murakami. Please note that this book is highly disturbing and have sex and drugs in it, so it's not good for children. I know wish they'd make this book into a movie, because I'd definitely watch it! I suggest getting this book if you're into deep, dark, psychological books with meaning. :)

I've read a few of Ryu Murakami's books - I liked them all but they were all too short.
This one is as good and longer so extends the enjoyment.
If you like him buy it. If you have not try it!

Right from the start I really enjoyed this novel. The scenery is well described and you get really invested in the characters. Even though its a bit long, I burned through it quickly. I was just a little disappointed in the ending, I didn't think it gave enough of an explanation.

I join others who did not care for this book. I simply could not get through it. I though it was poorly written and often just repulsive. Finally I decided I was wasting my time trying to read it. I suspect that his surname may be what got this author translated and published in the first place. But what a contrast with the excellent writer Haruki Murakami! Go read "Kafka on the Shore", or "The wind-up Bird Chronicle", your time will be better spent!

I first heard of this book when Michael Wong, of Ideagist, visited my Japanese Literature Challenge 2 blog and asked me if I had a copy. I told him I'd buy him one, which I did, but when it arrived from amazon.com I had to see what it was about. After reading a few pages, I ordered him another, and sat down to immerse myself in this story.

Like so much Japanese literature I've read, there's a quality of fantasy that's hard to put one's finger on. Is it the author's imagination run wild? Or, as in a John Irving novel, is the bizarre not so bizarre after all? Somehow, after the first hundred or so pages, the reader doesn't even mind if strange creatures come into the characters' lives, or absurd thoughts present themselves to the characters' stream of consciousness. It all seems perfectly natural, somehow, in a piece of well written literature.

Coin Locker Babies is about two babies who are abandoned by their mothers in train station coin lockers. "Two troubled boys spend their youth in an orphanage and with foster parents on a semi-deserted island before finally setting off for the city to find and destroy the women who first rejected them. Both are drawn to an area of freaks and hustlers called Toxitown. One becomes a bisexual rock singer, star of this exotic demi-monde, while the other, a pole vaulter, seeks his revenge in the company of his girlfriend, Anemone, a model who has converted her condominium into a tropical swamp for her pet crocodile. Together and apart, their journey from a hot metal box to a stunning, savage climax is a brutal funhouse ride through the eerie landscape of late-twentieth-century Japan." (front cover flap)

The theme of abandonment, and the pain that causes, runs throughout this novel. Regardless of culture, or life style choices, the distress which comes from knowing that their mother has left them becomes almost unbearable for these two young men. We see their choices, most of them which are self-destructive, in their pursuit for self-acceptance. Secondary, to me, was the plot line which in itself is enthralling; I chose to dwell on their emotional aspects first rather than the physical ones.

This novel looks at what it means to be a child and an abandoned one at that. It is heartbreaking and insightful, especially to those readers who may have been adopted themselves. Regardless of culture, regardless of age, regardless of reason, being adopted is painful. Yet there is comfort in exploring the issue, in knowing that other adoptees have similar feelings.

I found this an incredibly profound work, as well as a fascinating look into the Japanese world.

異様なまでの力強さとスピード感。
わき目もふらず駆け抜ける文字が一つ一つ重い。
なのに速い。
黄土色の濁った大河が荒れ狂って流れているようなそんな物語。

生後直ぐにコインロッカーに押し込められコインロッカーで必死に泣き叫んだ二人。
コインロッカーは彼らにとって2つ目のお腹の中であり産道だった。
強烈な文章の連続とそこで紡がれる異常な出来事を当たり前に受け入れながら育つ彼ら各々の中で育まれていく得体のしれない何か。
その何かはきっと私たちの中にもそれぞれあるものだろう。
私たちにとって何がコインロッカーで私たちの何がダチュラなのか、それを理性で追いながら読もうとしてもその理性が置いてけぼりを食らっていく。

頭をハイジャックされるような世界観。
完全に別の世界の話という感覚ではなく、なぜかこの異常な世界がしっかり私の住んでいる世界の地続きにあるという感覚を抱かせる。
だからこそ凄まじい不快感をリアルに感じるのだろう。
その不快感を自分の中に取り込んでしまうと新しい世界が広がっていく。