Piercing

Ryu Murakami, 1994 [Ralph McCarthy, 2007]

(October 2012)

Funny.

Darkly funny, I believe it's customary to clarify at this point. Tar-black farce; abuse it too much or too often and it’ll leave something malignant festering deep inside, but in a short, concentrated lungful like this it really opens your eyes and gets the blood flowing.

On which note, and bearing in mind my recent confession, eww…

This starts with a deeply disturbed new father holding an ice pick to his baby daughter’s face, and just descends from there. The narrative voice veers between the first, second, and third person as the protagonists connect and damage each other even beyond their pre-existing trauma. All the while misunderstanding themselves and each other in the finest traditions of a Shakespeare or Ealing comedy, but with S&M, hunting knives, and self-harm.

Treat it as a comedy and it’s not just bearable but laugh-out loud funny. Take it seriously and it’s very, very wrong indeed.

“Surely he couldn’t be arrested just for having an ice pick, a knife, and some notes on how to commit a murder…”