Book 11: Really Weird

Apparently I like weird books. Books that are random and creative and maybe a touch satirical. Slaughterhouse-Five, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, anything by Jasper Fforde. And now Popular Hits of the Showa Era by Ryu Murakami. I may not always understand what the heck is going on in the book (Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, I'm looking at you) but I can get pretty into them.

“The thing is,” said Ishihara, “we’re in a battle to the death with a group of aunties.”

I don't really like them too ridiculous (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was too ridiculous; Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters meandered a bit on the line) - just off enough to be interesting. And Popular Hits of the Showa Era totally qualifies. Basically, a group of mostly-20-something loser guys and a group of 30-something unattractive divorcees end up in a gang war with each other. It starts with a random murder and escalates into the destruction of a Tokyo suburb.

Nobue furrowed his brow again. This time he looked like a hippopotamus who’d accidentally sat in a puddle of hot mustard.

Yeah, it's fantastically random and yet, within the book, it makes total sense. Crazy. I really enjoyed the pacing of this, the randomness, the overall tone. It makes me want to read more by Ryu Murakami. And since I'm still not feeling the need to read more celiac- or diet-related books, I just might do that!