Almost Transparent Blue

Almost Transparent Blue is an autobiographical book, and usually I'm very fired up for these sorts of glimpses into the authors pasts but parts of this book just didn't grip me as much as I wanted them to. On one hand the degeneracy in the first half was... interesting, but the second half was kind of whatever. If you like reading about drug fueled violent sex orgies of 19-20 year olds that live in squalor and poverty while gaining insight into some of their musings and gripes with reality, this might be the book for you. In a way though, this gives a really good background as to why Ryu Murakami's books are the way that they are, and that he's really been through some shit (self inflicted or not). I like when authors have lived some of their characters lives. While this is a book with some heavy imagery it's also very empty, ideologically. I've briefly experienced that life at a much younger age and I'm glad it didn't go any further than it did, so I completely understand how people come to that. You just don't think, consider or wish. This kind of emptiness and animalistic depravity you experience while reading the book is very on brand for someone that lives that life, but it also leaves me with not many things to say about it haha.