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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The third of this prolific Japanese author's 30 novels to appear in English, this is a cyber-Bildungsroman of playful breadth and uncertain depth. Two mothers abandon their infant boys in the Yokohama train station's coin lockers. The reader is not spared the mechanics of packaging a child in a parcel, nor the grim details of any of the other episodes of discomfort and suffering which follow in incremental doses, though always with such whimsy that the reader wonders whether or not to be offended. The heroes, Kiku and Hashi, grow up together; but, beyond their bizarre beginnings, they couldn't be more different. Kiku becomes a homicidal pole-vaulter whose inner rage gives him unusual speed and strength, but which also fosters an obsession with murder and a secret drug that sets any creature into a killing frenzy. The more delicate Hashi strives to find his mother, supporting himself as a prostitute in Toxitown?a chemical disaster zone insulated from Tokyo by a wall and armed guards?until one of his johns discovers his musical talent and makes him a star. The settings seem lifted from Japanese animation epics: an abandoned mining town, an underwater tunnel and a retreat in the mountains. At times, Murakami rambles, as in the case of a taxi driver's pointless monologue or the long interviews with women who might be Hashi's mother. Such digressions, however, are less the product of careless craft than of a lush and frantic imagination overwhelming its own project. Though expansive and exciting as its scope, the novel is as unfocused as its troubled heroes.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In 69 (LJ 9/15/93) Murakami's last novel published in English, the prevailing tone was one of hip innocence. In Coin Locker Babies, any hint of innocence is decidedly absent. The coin locker babies of the title are two abandoned infants rescued from train station lockers, and the novel follows their adventures through boyhood into manhood. They wander through the sort of hellish, surreal landscape usually associated with dismal sf visions of the future, but in this book the hell is contemporary Japan. The journeys of the two are relentlessly dark and disturbing: matricide, violent sex, mutilation, vengeance, insanity, perversion, and mass destruction are all explored, usually graphically and with relish. The work of Murakami?who is also a filmmaker?begs comparison with film. Robocop comes to mind as bearing the closest resemblance to this novel, although the book lacks the satiric edge that many claimed to have found in that film. Large collections with a particular interest in contemporary fiction may find a place for this. Otherwise, it is not recommended.?Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., N.Y.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
The third of this prolific Japanese author's 30 novels to appear in English, this is a cyber-Bildungsroman of playful breadth and uncertain depth. Two mothers abandon their infant boys in the Yokohama train station's coin lockers. The reader is not spared the mechanics of packaging a child in a parcel, nor the grim details of any of the other episodes of discomfort and suffering which follow in incremental doses, though always with such whimsy that the reader wonders whether or not to be offended. The heroes, Kiku and Hashi, grow up together; but, beyond their bizarre beginnings, they couldn't be more different. Kiku becomes a homicidal pole-vaulter whose inner rage gives him unusual speed and strength, but which also fosters an obsession with murder and a secret drug that sets any creature into a killing frenzy. The more delicate Hashi strives to find his mother, supporting himself as a prostitute in Toxitown?a chemical disaster zone insulated from Tokyo by a wall and armed guards?until one of his johns discovers his musical talent and makes him a star. The settings seem lifted from Japanese animation epics: an abandoned mining town, an underwater tunnel and a retreat in the mountains. At times, Murakami rambles, as in the case of a taxi driver's pointless monologue or the long interviews with women who might be Hashi's mother. Such digressions, however, are less the product of careless craft than of a lush and frantic imagination overwhelming its own project. Though expansive and exciting as its scope, the novel is as unfocused as its troubled heroes.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In 69 (LJ 9/15/93) Murakami's last novel published in English, the prevailing tone was one of hip innocence. In Coin Locker Babies, any hint of innocence is decidedly absent. The coin locker babies of the title are two abandoned infants rescued from train station lockers, and the novel follows their adventures through boyhood into manhood. They wander through the sort of hellish, surreal landscape usually associated with dismal sf visions of the future, but in this book the hell is contemporary Japan. The journeys of the two are relentlessly dark and disturbing: matricide, violent sex, mutilation, vengeance, insanity, perversion, and mass destruction are all explored, usually graphically and with relish. The work of Murakami?who is also a filmmaker?begs comparison with film. Robocop comes to mind as bearing the closest resemblance to this novel, although the book lacks the satiric edge that many claimed to have found in that film. Large collections with a particular interest in contemporary fiction may find a place for this. Otherwise, it is not recommended.?Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., N.Y.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The woman pushed on the baby's stomach and sucked its penis into her mouth; it was thinner than the American menthols she smoked and a bit slimy, like raw fish. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
rice omelettes, coin locker, right pig, fiberglass pole, canna lilies Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Yuyo Maru, Captain Eda, Lee Connitz, Miss Kanae, Christmas Eve, Garagi Island, Hair Oil, Blind Mice, Kimie Numata, Hashio Kuwayama, John Sparks Shimoda, Kikuyuki Kuwayama, Chiyoko Kunisaki, Lonely Bride, Queen Akebi, The Spaceship, Tochigi Prison, Tokyo Olympics, Vitus's Blues, Yoyogi Park New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The woman pushed on the baby's stomach and sucked its penis into her mouth; it was thinner than the American menthols she smoked and a bit slimy, like raw fish. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
rice omelettes, coin locker, right pig, fiberglass pole, canna lilies Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Yuyo Maru, Captain Eda, Lee Connitz, Miss Kanae, Christmas Eve, Garagi Island, Hair Oil, Blind Mice, Kimie Numata, Hashio Kuwayama, John Sparks Shimoda, Kikuyuki Kuwayama, Chiyoko Kunisaki, Lonely Bride, Queen Akebi, The Spaceship, Tochigi Prison, Tokyo Olympics, Vitus's Blues, Yoyogi Park New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 3
books:
16
books
cite this book:
See all 16 books citing this book
- Love, Hate and Everything in Between: Expressing Emotions in Japanese (Power Japanese Series) (Kodansha's Children's Classics) by Mamiko Murakami in Back Matter
- The Waiting Years by Fumiko Enchi in Back Matter
- All About Particles (Power Japanese) by Naoko Chino in Back Matter
- A Reader's Guide to Japanese Literature by J. Thomas Rimer in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Japan Today by Roger Buckley on page 172, and Back Matter
- Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation by Susan J. Napier in Back Matter
- Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation by Susan J. Napier in Back Matter
- Lonely Planet Kyoto by Chris Rowthorn on page 32
See all 16 books citing this book
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