{"title":"Ryu Murakami","description":"Ryu Murakami was born in 1952 in Nagasaki prefecture, Ryu Murakami is the enfant terrible of contemporary Japanese literature. Awarded the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 1976 for his first book, a novel about a group of young people drowned in sex and drugs, he has gone on to explore with cinematic intensity the themes of violence and technology in contemporary Japanese society. His novels include Piercing, Coin Locker Babies, Sixty-Nine, Popular Hits of the Showa Era, Audition, In the Miso Soup and From the Fatherland, with Love. Murakami is also a screenwriter and a director; his films include Tokyo Decadence, Audition and Because of You.","products":[{"product_id":"in-the-miso-soup-paperback","title":"In the Miso Soup - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Mr. Murakami's novels are filled with entertaining psychopaths.\" --\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom postmodern Renaissance man Ryu Murakami, master of the psychothriller and director of Tokyo Decadence, comes this hair-raising roller-coaster ride through the nefarious neon-lit world of Tokyo's sex industry \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIt's just before New Year, and Frank, an American tourist, has hired Kenji to take him on a guided tour of Tokyo's nightlife. But, Frank's behaviour is so odd that Kenji begins to entertain a horrible suspicion: his client may in fact have murderous desires. Although Kenji is far from innocent himself, he unwillingly descends with Frank into an inferno of evil, from which only his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Jun, can possibly save him.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51369164800223,"sku":"9780143035695","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/M8VppIn9TM9780143035695.webp?v=1789139269"},{"product_id":"piercing-paperback","title":"Piercing - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Mr. Murakami's novels are filled with entertaining psychopaths.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA pulsating cult-favorite psycho-thriller, the basis of the major motion picture starring Christopher Abbott and Mia Wasikowska \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e*One of \u003ci\u003eLiterary Hub\u003c\/i\u003e's \u003cb\u003e\"\u003c\/b\u003eTen Works of Literary Horror You Should Read (Even if You Don't Think You Like Horror)\u003cb\u003e\"\u003c\/b\u003e* \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Kawashima Masayuki is a successful graphic designer living in Tokyo with his loving wife, Yoko, and their baby girl. Outwardly, their lives are a picture of happiness and contentment, but every night while his wife sleeps Kawashima creeds from him bed and watches over the baby's crib with an ice pick in his hand and an almost visceral desire to use it. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e One night, as this struggle unfolds once more, Kawashima makes a decision to confront his demons and sets into motion an uncontrollable chain of events seeming to lead inexorably to murder. The follow-up to \u003ci\u003eIn the Miso Soup\u003c\/i\u003e from a cult favorite writer, \u003ci\u003ePiercing \u003c\/i\u003econfirms Murakami as the master of the psycho thriller--terrifying, sickening, and utterly gripping.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51369171550431,"sku":"9780143038634","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/i2I96yZwvC9780143038634.webp?v=1789139280"},{"product_id":"audition-paperback-2","title":"Audition - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this gloriously over-the-top tale, Aoyama, a widower who has lived alone with his son ever since his wife died seven years before, finally decides it is time to remarry. Since Aoyama is a bit rusty when it comes to dating, a filmmaker friend proposes that, in order to attract the perfect wife, they do a casting call for a movie they don't intend to produce. As the résumés pile up, only one of the applicants catches Aoyama's attention--Yamasaki Asami--a striking young former ballerina with a mysterious past. Blinded by his instant and total infatuation, Aoyama is too late in discovering that she is a far cry from the innocent young woman he imagines her to be. The novel's fast-paced, thriller conclusion doesn't spare the reader as Yamasaki takes off her angelic mask and reveals what lies beneath.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51369780871391,"sku":"9780393338416","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/g_N_4bzOVV9780393338416.webp?v=1789146604"},{"product_id":"popular-hits-of-the-showa-era-paperback","title":"Popular Hits of the Showa Era - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn his most irreverent novel yet, Ryu Murakami creates a rivalry of epic proportions between six aimless youths and six tough-as-nails women who battle for control of a Tokyo neighborhood. At the outset, the young men seem louche but harmless, their activities limited to drinking, snacking, peering at a naked neighbor through a window, and performing karaoke. The six \"aunties\" are fiercely independent career women. When one of the boys executes a lethal ambush of one of the women, chaos ensues. The women band together to find the killer and exact revenge. In turn, the boys buckle down, study physics, and plot to take out their nemeses in a single blast. Who knew that a deadly \"gang war\" could be such fun? Murakami builds the conflict into a hilarious, spot-on satire of modern culture and the tensions between the sexes and generations.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51369781493983,"sku":"9780393338423","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/wfbAve8kPm9780393338423.webp?v=1789146604"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/ryu-murakami.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}