Customer Reviews

Sixty-Nine

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Those looking for a book about sex don't read this one. Hehe, the 69 here refers to the year 1969 not the position. The hero of this book is Ken Yazaki. A very intelligent 17 year old who wants to be on the top of popular culture. He spews off the names of french writers, poets, and film directors, without having read their work or watced their movies. Ken, however, is a very charismativ individual who gets people to follow him easily. His main two followers are his best friends Adama and Iwase. Ken is bored living in his small town in westerrn Kyushu and wants to do something dramatic. First he joins a Communist clique in his school that he takes over as soon as he joins, and later he throws a rock festival.

The book is quite funny. Ken is a very likeable individual who starts off many paragraphs with tall tales and then he says that really didn't happen. It is quite entertaining. I have read three of Murakami's books now, and I believe this one falls somewhere between _Almost Transparent Blue_ and _Coin Locker Babies_ Good book that gives the reader a glimpse of late 60s Japan.

Mention the name Ryu Murakami and there are usually visions of nihilism, self-destructive sex and drugs, and a dismal portrait of the scum-encrusted shadow world of the rebellious youth of Japan. After all, this is the author of the novel that spawned the film "Audition" and who wrote the infamous opening lines of "Coin Locker Babies," "The woman pushed on the baby's stomach and sucked its penis into her mouth; it was thinner than the American menthols she smoked..." Pure punk rock on page. No future. So, pick up a book titled "69," the fourth book translated into English by the prolific author, and your expectation is...

...anything but this. Anything but a brilliant, light-hearted, fast-paced trip through the lazy hazy days of the Summer of 69, a time of unprecedented freedom when a guy and his good buddies could throw together a band, a rock festival, and maybe a little bit of student rebellion all for the hope that the prettiest girls in school might be just a little more impressed with them and let them in on that magic secret they keep under their skirts. Don't get me wrong, this is still punk rock, but this is punk rock before it got a name, and still had the skin of innocence and the youthful sheen of tearing things down with hope for a better future. This is just fun.

As he did in "Almost Transparent Blue," Murakami has stitched together his own past with a dream of idealized youth, creating a believable world of kids giving full reign to their impulses, free from the controlling influence of authority. His protagonist in "69," Kensuke Yazaki, didn't exactly just get his first real six-string at the 5 and Dime, but he is the drummer for a garage band that plays the latest Stones and Cream, although they have never had a real gig. He drops quotes of Rimbaud poetry and recommends counter-culture books, although he has never actually read them. He would totally smoke marijuana if he knew how to get any, and he would totally join in on the Free Love movement if any girl would let him.

But Yazaki is a small-town kid, and while he can read about the goings on in San Francisco and even Tokyo, maybe fantasize a bit, his own little backwater town isn't exactly bursting into the future. He's not going to let that stop him, though. He's got a plan, he's got a buddy, and he's got a girl to impress. He's seventeen years old, its the summer, and the year is 1969. Its time to do something stupid, something outrageous, and have a good time.

Ryu Murakami shows his range with "69." He is a lot more than the dark shadow of modern Japanese literature, much more than the Batman to Murakami Haruki's Superman. Most of all, he sums up what it means to be young all in one line. "Victory went to whoever had the most fun." Amen.

69 is a light-hearted comedic novel unlike the other three translated novels by the same author, and should not be compared side-by-side with their heavy postmodern themes.

Instead, 69 offers the viewpoint of a youth born in a small Japanese town influenced by western movements of that time, in particular the avant-garde, the political situation and the music of that time. Combining politicos, yakuzas, greasers, rock musicians who only knew how to sing "dontcha know" and play three chords and your average high-schooler, Ryu Murakami has captured a perfect snapshot of youth.

Possible themes involve the concept of American occupation of Japan during that time, Japanese youth and their fickle-minded apathy (combined with a short attention span), but these are only painted with broad strokes as the narrative refuses to dwelve further into these possible issues, although one can guess the author's viewpoint on these issues through their passing mention thereof.

Nonetheless, the time and themes in this novel are immaterial. This novel is skillfully rendered, hilariously portrayed, and light-hearted enough to illicit a laugh from even the most gloomy postmodernists. In the pursuit for heavy meanings, perhaps we have overlooked what 69 represents: it is the beauty of youth that is meant to be lived-- instead of wasted-- that truly counts beneath the mish-mash of social groups presented in this novel.

Although it's not fair to compare Ryu and Haruki Murakami simply because they share the same family name, I couldn't help but feel that "69" was Ryu's "Norwegian Wood." In both stories (interestingly, both were written in 1987 about the year 1969!), the authors take a break from their normal styles and write semi-autobiographical works about their school days. At the same time, it would be a mistake to consider both works fundamentally different from the authors' other works--"Norwegian Wood" is essentially Haruki's other stories without the Sheep Men and mysterious wells, "69" is the essence of Ryu's other works, sans the acid trips and coin lockers.

Ryu's message is simple: You win in life by having fun. Whereas Haruki's protagonists are coolly detached (the main character in Norwegian Wood watches the college demonstrations impassively), Ryu's are fiercely proactive--it's Ken that starts the trouble at his school. Although Ryu finishes "69" with a slightly bittersweet ending, the vast majority of the book is about having fun. Rebellion vs. authority, beauty vs. ugliness, extroverts vs. introverts: "69" has few grey areas. Some people might criticize this lack of complexity as a sign of immaturity, but for me it was refreshing to read a book as optimistic and frank as this one.

"69" will bother people aching for hidden meanings (why do people get bothered when an author actually says plainly what he means?) or some kind of bildungsroman formula involving personal growth (Ryu captures the energy and unabashed egoism of a 17 year old perfectly, rather than burdening Ken with some kind of post-modern angst). But really, who cares? Have fun reading this book!

69 is one of my favorite coming-of-age stories. It contains few enough "insight moments" to remain digestible. But there is something to think about, laugh at, admire, or learn on nearly every page.

I'm not sure how much of the book is based on actual events in Murakami Ryu's life, but the story was realistic enough to keep me engaged. Murakami does a great job injecting humor into the first-person narrative, which also serves to develop the main character of Ken. There is a clear pattern: every 10 pages or so, Ken claims he did something sensible, then contradicts himself with "of course that wasn't the case. Instead, I ______."

Without patronizing the reader, Murakami also touches on subjects like national identity, group membership and influences, Japanese culture, and social biases. Though a quick read 69, is thought-provoking and, to me, very effective in setting up several archetypal characters and subsequently refining some while showing the changes of others. As this mirrors real life - some people change while others seem to be older versions of their younger selves - the character studies in 69 are highly compelling.

I highly recommend 69, especially to those interested in Japan or fans of Murakami Haruki or Natsuo Kirino.

at the once wry, wistful and charmingly honest, this book is an endearing howl. 69 tells the story of the high school days of one ken (shimada?), and offers both an illuminating examination of the japanese youth climate at the end of the sixties, and a hysterical stripping away of the artifice that constitutes the artistic temprement. at one point, the protagonist justifies his healthy estimation of himself by listing off the works of figures of literary renoun, and declaring emphatically "i had heard of all of these books!" the most striking thing about this book his how it steers clear of the provocative streak found in his other works, most in evidence here in the cheeky titling. a quiet, good hearted charmer, and highly recomended.

1969, like its more famous predecessor 1968, is a hard year to novelize. The problem is capturing all new currents personal, cultural and political. Maurakami portrays this time better than others who have tried.

While the setting is Japan, and the protagonist, a high school student, Yazaki (Ken-yan), could very well be transported to the US. He is digesting (primarily US) politics and culture all the while dealing with his growing sexuality. He is aggressive and when he is focused can harness the others down the wrong path or a creative path.

His strong opinions about his school, teachers and classmates reflect this point in time. The place provides a different view for the western reader, particularly his comments on the "war" generation.

This is my introduction to Maurakami. I note that this was published in Japan, in 1979. I don't know how this fits in with his body of work, but it is a solid novel and was probably overshadowed by his breakthrough novel, Norwegian Wood published in the same year.

This book is probably great for anyone 21 years of age and younger but anyone older than that will find it trivial and juvenile. It is written from the point-of-view of Kensuke Yazaki who is currently in his 30s and is looking back on his senior year of high school which just happened to be in 1969. He basically talks about wanting sex all the time, not unusual for a 17-year-old boy and how he is disappointed in his high school. His disappointment in his high school leads him to pull all sorts of pranks, i.e., pushing the female swim coach into the pool; his running away from home so he didn't have to compete in the school marathon; and his biggest prank of all vandalizing the school with graffiti and leaving feces on the principal's desk.

Then over the summer break he decides they will have a festival like the ones they have in Tokoyo or even Paris and he writes a script for a play entitled "Beyond the Blood-Red Sea of Negativity and Rebellion". He also gets a band together and they hold the festival on November 23rd. Five hundred people show up.

Except for these things happening it basically is about a selfish, self-centered teenager who thinks he's so smart he can change the world. Kensuke is literally quite full of himself. If you're looking for anything deep and/or meaningful, look elsewhere, you won't find it here.

This book is nothing short of hilliarious

Ryu Murakami, 69 (Kodansha, 1987)

Murakami (no relation to Wind-Up Bird author Haruki Murakami, by the way) is (or bloody well should be) best known in the west for writing the novel upon which Takashi Miike's most astounding film, Audition, is based. (It has recently been translated into English. Miike fans, rejoice.) He first came to the attention of the horror underground, though, with a book called Coin Locker Babies, which, as it turns out, is very difficult to find these days. In fact, I put in a request for it at the library and instead ended up with this odd, fun, rather beguiling little novel instead. (Coin Locker Babies is still, it seems, missing in action. I put in another request for it. We'll see what happens.)

Obviously autobiographical in nature (set in the town where Murakami was born, with a protagonist the same age he was at the time, etc.), but one wonders if any writer this side of Fannie Flagg is capable of writing himself with such a jaundiced eye. Ken Yazaki is seventeen in 1969, utterly bored with school (and horrified at the idea of going on to med school, which he has been studying for), grabbing every attempt he can to latch himself into the American-inspired underground culture, and the most unreliable narrator this side of the guy sitting next to you at the lunch counter telling you about the five-foot bass that got away. In order to facilitate getting laid, he and his best friend, Iwase, decide they want to put on an avant-garde festival (Americans old enough to remember the sixties, think "happening" here); music, film, drama, art, poetry, you name it. To this end, Ken ropes in a serious, diplomatic chap named Adama, and the three of them set out to start making music, film, drama, etc. Along the way, they get caught up in the protest of the Vietnam War, leading to an idea to blockade the school.

Most of the time, you just end up shaking your head and wondering what is going through this kid's mind. But as the novel progresses (and this could be used as a textbook for the writing 101 tenet that in order for a book to work, the lead character must change in some way), we get more insight into what's going on in Ken's head. Whether that's because he's discovering it himself or just more willing to reveal his thoughts is left to the reader to decide. As we get more insight into Ken, the book becomes better, so the first few chapters may drag some. Stick with it, this is fun stuff. The plot is just scatterbrained enough to work (and to his credit, once Murakami gets Ken onto one track, he does tend to hold it to its logical conclusion), the characters are engaging, and the book ends up being a lot of fun. Not your usual coming of age tale. ***