Coin Locker Babies

Murakami, Ryu

ISBN 10: 4770015909 / ISBN 13: 9784770015907

Published by Kodansha America Inc, New York, 1995

Small 4to hardcover with yellow boards and a black spine, with silver gilt titling on the spine. 1st edition, translated by Stephen Snyder. The condition of the book is Very Good (binding tight; light wear to the tail end of the spine; text block edges has some dust staining). The condition of the dust jacket is Very Good (mylar wrapped; not price clipped; minor shelf wear to the bottom edges, interior flaps not quite covered by mylar somewhat dust stained). 393pp. Seller Inventory # 40788

Synopsis:

Rescued from the lockers in which they were left to die as infants and raised to freely follow their ambitions, Kiku and Hashi begin parallel quests of vengeance against the mothers who abandoned them and the society that let it happen

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.

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.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Coin Locker Babies
Publisher: Kodansha America Inc, New York
Publication Date: 1995
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
Edition: 1st Edition