歌うクジラ（上）

by Ryū Murakami, 村上龍

２０２２年のクリスマスイブ、ハワイの海底で、グレゴリオ聖歌を正確に繰り返し歌うザトウクジラが発見された・・・・。そして１００年後の日本、不老不死の遺伝子を巡り、ある少年の冒険の旅が始まる。

384 pages

First published October 20, 2010

About the author

Ryū Murakami (村上 龍) is a Japanese novelist and filmmaker. He is not related to Haruki Murakami or Takashi Murakami.

Murakami's first work, the short novel Almost Transparent Blue, written while he was still a student, deals with promiscuity and drug use among disaffected Japanese youth. Critically acclaimed as a new style of literature, it won the newcomer's literature prize in 1976 despite some observers decrying it as decadent. Later the same year, Blue won the Akutagawa Prize, going on to become a best seller. In 1980, Murakami published the much longer novel Coin Locker Babies, again to critical acclaim.

Takashi Miike's feature film Audition (1999) was based on one of his novels. Murakami reportedly liked it so much he gave Miike his blessing to adapt Coin Locker Babies. The screen play was worked on by director Jordan Galland. However, Miike could not raise funding for the project. An adaptation directed by Michele Civetta is currently in production.

Murakami has played drums for a rock group called Coelacanth and hosted a TV talk show.

Reviews

[Katsura · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's actually a little bit difficult to read. The book set in the near future of Japan. The people in the novel talked in weirdo Japanese. I guess, because of that, it was hard to follow the story for me. Anyway, the story went very depressing. Plus, I could not figure out why the author put the story about the whale singing a Gregorian chant at the beginning. I love the story of the singing whale, which was kind of romantic.

[Satoshi · Rating 2 out of 5]

話の設定がなかなか面白そうに思ったが、展開に特に惹きつけられるものがなくて、平坦な砂利道が延々と続く感じ。非常に読みづらかった。(まあそういう演出なわけだが)

上巻の約2/3を読んだところで見切りをつけた。でも大体言いたい事は分かった気がする。多分。