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Rainy Day Ramen and the Cosmic Pachinko
Unemployed, broke and engaged in a telepathic turf war with a feral cat behind an Okinawa convenience store, 28-year-old Fred Buchanan is hopelessly lost in life. After a fortuitous bet on the island bullfights, he boards a ferry to Kobe then a slow train to Tokyo, chasing shadows of a halogen dream.
Back in Tokyo, past and present collide as an empty orchestra croons a slow dance of people and place, memory and madness, loss and love. Charging through Tokyo's neon jungle, enveloped in a boozy, nicotine-stained haze, Fred is determined to be an agent of his destiny and not another ball bearing bouncing through the cosmic pachinko.
Perhaps Fred's contentment, his rainy day ramen, lies in the warm embrace of Yukie, with strips of delicious thigh and mysterious powers imbued in the etched eye on her fingernail. If only he can exit her stop and resist the self-destructive inclination to journey to the end of the line to confront the truths or lies which lay there.
Rainy Day Ramen and the Cosmic Pachinko is told in two distinct overlapping and interwoven formats. Join Fred's drunken, staggering, metaphysical odyssey from Okinawa to Tokyo, and his search for meaning beyond the physical path trodden. The novel blends Murakami-esque magical realism with a coming-of-age on-the-road story.
Back in Tokyo, past and present collide as an empty orchestra croons a slow dance of people and place, memory and madness, loss and love. Charging through Tokyo's neon jungle, enveloped in a boozy, nicotine-stained haze, Fred is determined to be an agent of his destiny and not another ball bearing bouncing through the cosmic pachinko.
Perhaps Fred's contentment, his rainy day ramen, lies in the warm embrace of Yukie, with strips of delicious thigh and mysterious powers imbued in the etched eye on her fingernail. If only he can exit her stop and resist the self-destructive inclination to journey to the end of the line to confront the truths or lies which lay there.
Rainy Day Ramen and the Cosmic Pachinko is told in two distinct overlapping and interwoven formats. Join Fred's drunken, staggering, metaphysical odyssey from Okinawa to Tokyo, and his search for meaning beyond the physical path trodden. The novel blends Murakami-esque magical realism with a coming-of-age on-the-road story.
321 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 7, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 19, 2022
- The writing is largely okay, his interactions with other people can be interesting sometimes, as long as the other person isn’t a woman.
- If there is a woman anywhere, we get a nice little side of r/menwritingwomen, with the exception of maybe 1.5 of them.
- I immensely dislike the main character, which is a bit of an issue when he’s the only constant in this entire book and everything is told through his perspective. To summarise his character: a mediocre white sleazy drunk (who’s honestly a little bit of a gross person) on a wandering journey around Japan to ?find himself.
- Author has a fleeting love affair with purple prose that makes the meaning of sentences disintegrate the moment he employs it. Sometimes I have to blur my vision a bit just to get through to the next section.
- If I had a dollar for every word I had to check the dictionary for, I’d have enough money for a decent McDonald's meal. Using a broader vocabulary isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it gets tired after a while.
- Transitions between timelines? Some of them are very confusing and it’s due to poor writing decisions rather than the main character having a hallucination (which one it is usually isn’t immediately obvious).
- Has the occasional punctuation/formatting error. This is probably more on the editor/publisher than the author.
- No spoilers but I docked half a star for something super nasty that the main character does towards the end. Also the ending is ????? There’s a lot going on and it feels a bit rushed, especially when the rest of the book moved at a snail's pace.
Honestly, I only finished this book because I paid for it. The beginning is really rough and gets better around halfway in but it’s still only just alright. The writing towards the end made no sense to me but by that point I didn’t even care anymore, I was too busy riding the high of finally putting this book behind me. It’s a good thing that I started this when I did, because it’s exam season and the fact that I didn’t actually want to read this book meant that I had more time to revise. The only thing I liked about this book was the cover.
- If there is a woman anywhere, we get a nice little side of r/menwritingwomen, with the exception of maybe 1.5 of them.
- I immensely dislike the main character, which is a bit of an issue when he’s the only constant in this entire book and everything is told through his perspective. To summarise his character: a mediocre white sleazy drunk (who’s honestly a little bit of a gross person) on a wandering journey around Japan to ?find himself.
- Author has a fleeting love affair with purple prose that makes the meaning of sentences disintegrate the moment he employs it. Sometimes I have to blur my vision a bit just to get through to the next section.
- If I had a dollar for every word I had to check the dictionary for, I’d have enough money for a decent McDonald's meal. Using a broader vocabulary isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it gets tired after a while.
- Transitions between timelines? Some of them are very confusing and it’s due to poor writing decisions rather than the main character having a hallucination (which one it is usually isn’t immediately obvious).
- Has the occasional punctuation/formatting error. This is probably more on the editor/publisher than the author.
- No spoilers but I docked half a star for something super nasty that the main character does towards the end. Also the ending is ????? There’s a lot going on and it feels a bit rushed, especially when the rest of the book moved at a snail's pace.
Honestly, I only finished this book because I paid for it. The beginning is really rough and gets better around halfway in but it’s still only just alright. The writing towards the end made no sense to me but by that point I didn’t even care anymore, I was too busy riding the high of finally putting this book behind me. It’s a good thing that I started this when I did, because it’s exam season and the fact that I didn’t actually want to read this book meant that I had more time to revise. The only thing I liked about this book was the cover.
June 24, 2021
This was a hard one to review because I really enjoyed the bulk of it but…..
What really got on my nerves was the way he wrote dialogue between characters. For example: The “cocky *cockney* c u next Tuesday” cat who spoke with a northern accent and used northern slang, ‘Gertie from Belfast’ who did not speak like a Belfast native in any shape or form, general chat. It took away from the story, I took it hard. Pernickety it may be but I cannot bear to ‘hear’ characters talking like that. It is an assault to my visual ears.
Then…the sex scenes. I cringed reading these. There were quite a few scenes too but I learnt to quickly skim past them. This novel is a very strong contender for the Literary Review’s ‘Bad Sex in Fiction’ award. There was no award last year because the Literary Review said that ‘people had been subjected to too many bad things already.’ But I think this one, at least, deserves a nomination.
Other than these annoying matters, the author described Fred’s travels very well. You can easily visualise the locations down to the well-utilised vending machines, little Japanese literary references throughout, the description of the ramen (made me drool). I did find a lot of positives. The style wasn’t unlike Murakami (Haruki) though much more sober, you could sense the author had had real-life experience in Japan. He references really well: districts, fashion, bars, patrons, RAMEN <3.
It’s a shame really because all the while reading this book I was wondering whether it was 3 or 4 and I just had to give it the middling 3. Ending was a bit of a disappointment , I would have preferred it if Fred just left Japan.
All in all, a great debut novel but much to be considered. Try and limit the overly graphic, numerous sex scenes and avoid accented dialogue, if you’re not well versed, where possible,
Ps. Find a new cover designer. That cover was abysmal.
What really got on my nerves was the way he wrote dialogue between characters. For example: The “cocky *cockney* c u next Tuesday” cat who spoke with a northern accent and used northern slang, ‘Gertie from Belfast’ who did not speak like a Belfast native in any shape or form, general chat. It took away from the story, I took it hard. Pernickety it may be but I cannot bear to ‘hear’ characters talking like that. It is an assault to my visual ears.
Then…the sex scenes. I cringed reading these. There were quite a few scenes too but I learnt to quickly skim past them. This novel is a very strong contender for the Literary Review’s ‘Bad Sex in Fiction’ award. There was no award last year because the Literary Review said that ‘people had been subjected to too many bad things already.’ But I think this one, at least, deserves a nomination.
Other than these annoying matters, the author described Fred’s travels very well. You can easily visualise the locations down to the well-utilised vending machines, little Japanese literary references throughout, the description of the ramen (made me drool). I did find a lot of positives. The style wasn’t unlike Murakami (Haruki) though much more sober, you could sense the author had had real-life experience in Japan. He references really well: districts, fashion, bars, patrons, RAMEN <3.
It’s a shame really because all the while reading this book I was wondering whether it was 3 or 4 and I just had to give it the middling 3. Ending was a bit of a disappointment , I would have preferred it if Fred just left Japan.
All in all, a great debut novel but much to be considered. Try and limit the overly graphic, numerous sex scenes and avoid accented dialogue, if you’re not well versed, where possible,
Ps. Find a new cover designer. That cover was abysmal.
April 2, 2021
I liked this book a lot. The setting was made very interesting with smart choices locations within locations and these were wisely utilised by the author to enhance the plot and to compliment the writing over-all. It was at time lyrical and flowed with unique style both light and insightful. The magical realism and romance were my favourite aspects and they made this a really fun, sexy read which transports the read to Japan and through Tokyo's red-light Kabukicho. I felt like I was along for the ride of Fred's metaphysical odyssey and enjoyed all the stops and interesting characters met along the way. I was left pondering fate, destiny and how much agency we really have over these forces in our life, and so the novel was successful in moving me to consider these philosophical questions while also being an interesting study of the human condition and how we unintentionally hurt, are driven by self and at times find little pockets in life in which to grow and expand our perspectives.
I went to the authors website www.rainydayramen.com and there were some interesting blog posts and pictorial tours through the places and things which pepper the pages of his novel. These were great to read for more background and insight, not some much on Japan, but Fred's Japan.
I'm planning to visit Tokyo after the Covid is over and will definitely bring this book along and re-read to enhance the experience.
I went to the authors website www.rainydayramen.com and there were some interesting blog posts and pictorial tours through the places and things which pepper the pages of his novel. These were great to read for more background and insight, not some much on Japan, but Fred's Japan.
I'm planning to visit Tokyo after the Covid is over and will definitely bring this book along and re-read to enhance the experience.
July 15, 2022
Welp. I gave it 70 pages before giving up- could not handle more of the writing style (bigger words are not always better) or the author’s creepy female-objectification. Great title but not a good book.
June 27, 2022
I suppose my first question is why on earth did the author feel compelled to write this? My follow-up question would be why was it published?
Whatever this book was trying to be or do, it failed spectacularly at it.
This is probably one of the most unenjoyable books I’ve ever read. The main character is a vile and disgusting person. The writing style is overwrought and exhausting. The way that the book is constructed is all over the place. The book is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. It reads like a sex-starved, depraved fever dream.
I DNF’d this book last year and I should have just chucked it out then. It’s exceptionally difficult to get into because of the pompous and ridiculous writing. Once the brain adjusts to the godawful writing, the story picks up in the middle but then it spirals into disgusting, bizarre, and fragmented. The way that the author writes about women is degrading and awful. The gratuitous sex in this book is so badly done that it made me feel physically sick.
The only thing this book did well was the sense of place. I love books set in Japan but I’ll stick to Japanese authors. I can’t help but feel that when white males write about Japan, it’s just awful: fetishized, inauthentic, and tawdry.
I can’t help but feel that this author is high on his own supply and this is some mash-up of his own biography and a sick fantasy. Even from what little I know about the author (listed in the ‘about the author’ section at the front of the book), there are a lot of similarities between him and Fred.
At any rate, can authors with nothing to say please stop writing books? And can we please stop publishing them? We’ve suffered enough.
Whatever this book was trying to be or do, it failed spectacularly at it.
This is probably one of the most unenjoyable books I’ve ever read. The main character is a vile and disgusting person. The writing style is overwrought and exhausting. The way that the book is constructed is all over the place. The book is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. It reads like a sex-starved, depraved fever dream.
I DNF’d this book last year and I should have just chucked it out then. It’s exceptionally difficult to get into because of the pompous and ridiculous writing. Once the brain adjusts to the godawful writing, the story picks up in the middle but then it spirals into disgusting, bizarre, and fragmented. The way that the author writes about women is degrading and awful. The gratuitous sex in this book is so badly done that it made me feel physically sick.
The only thing this book did well was the sense of place. I love books set in Japan but I’ll stick to Japanese authors. I can’t help but feel that when white males write about Japan, it’s just awful: fetishized, inauthentic, and tawdry.
I can’t help but feel that this author is high on his own supply and this is some mash-up of his own biography and a sick fantasy. Even from what little I know about the author (listed in the ‘about the author’ section at the front of the book), there are a lot of similarities between him and Fred.
At any rate, can authors with nothing to say please stop writing books? And can we please stop publishing them? We’ve suffered enough.
June 27, 2023
I don't know why this book is getting all this hate. Obviously the majority of bad reviews are from people who have never read anything above YA chick lit or Jodi Picoult. Sometimes what makes a story good, is a character that is bad. In my opinion anyway. If someone can write a character that you hate that much, well... That's called creative writing.
However, some people only want to read about nice people, nice things, lovely characters, and a happy ending.
They don't want to have to look inside a damged or deprived mind and wonder what made them so.
I thought this book was pretty great. Yes, the main character had issues, but that was kinda the point.
It reminded me very much of a lot of the Japanese authors I have read, including Murakami, which he gets the same gripe, that he "doesn't write women well." To me there's no correct way to write anyone, that happens to be how Murakami sees women as his characters, as did this author.
Now days, I truly don't see how any author makes it, as picky and sensitive as the world has become. I don't. It amazes me we aren't issued one bland book of rainbows and that's all we are "allowed" to read because anything else triggers everyone. Play it safe.
😂😂😂😏😏😏
However, some people only want to read about nice people, nice things, lovely characters, and a happy ending.
They don't want to have to look inside a damged or deprived mind and wonder what made them so.
I thought this book was pretty great. Yes, the main character had issues, but that was kinda the point.
It reminded me very much of a lot of the Japanese authors I have read, including Murakami, which he gets the same gripe, that he "doesn't write women well." To me there's no correct way to write anyone, that happens to be how Murakami sees women as his characters, as did this author.
Now days, I truly don't see how any author makes it, as picky and sensitive as the world has become. I don't. It amazes me we aren't issued one bland book of rainbows and that's all we are "allowed" to read because anything else triggers everyone. Play it safe.
😂😂😂😏😏😏
March 21, 2022
I thought this book was okay. The story was entertaining - it reminded me of something Haruki Murakami might write. Strange trips, cats, weird women, too many sex scenes. Really he just missed obsessing over ladies ears and it would have been a bingo on the Murakami bingo card. The sex scenes were just too extreme for my tastes, honestly. I knocked off a star completely for the end part in which Fred pleasures himself at his dead girlfriend’s grave. Maybe it’s supposed to show how far he’s fallen? It was just gross, disrespectful, and unnecessary.
I appreciated the descriptions of Japan, especially Shinjuku and Kabukicho because I’ve been there and am very fond of Shinjuku. I enjoyed following Fred’s destructive journey although I sometimes did get lost when the time was jumping around from present and past. I also recommend trying to read this through and not take breaks - I took a couple day breaks from this book and just got lost as to where I was, what had happened, etc. It’s just easier if you can read it through. Just could have done without the sex scenes. He also drinks A LOT. I kept hoping he’d stop drinking and get his life together. Which did sort of happen in the epilogue, I just wish it had happened sooner.
Again, it was an interesting book. I’d be interested in reading another book from this author.
I appreciated the descriptions of Japan, especially Shinjuku and Kabukicho because I’ve been there and am very fond of Shinjuku. I enjoyed following Fred’s destructive journey although I sometimes did get lost when the time was jumping around from present and past. I also recommend trying to read this through and not take breaks - I took a couple day breaks from this book and just got lost as to where I was, what had happened, etc. It’s just easier if you can read it through. Just could have done without the sex scenes. He also drinks A LOT. I kept hoping he’d stop drinking and get his life together. Which did sort of happen in the epilogue, I just wish it had happened sooner.
Again, it was an interesting book. I’d be interested in reading another book from this author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2021
This was a wild ride. I absolutely love the vivid, verbacious descriptions and as a self-professed Japanophile, I delighted in all the references to Japanese pop culture, literature, modern history, places and zen philosophies. I must admit the crazy hallucinations left me quite confused at the beginning, putting me off for a bit but I returned to it at a time I was able to better immerse in the experience and allowed myself to get lost in it and feel lost along with the main character. To be frank, even as I come to the end of the book, I feel I'm still wandering about in his delusions wondering what exactly happened.
Not to give too much away but I feel the book ought to come with trigger warnings for suicide, sex, alcohol addiction, and most of all, a trigger warning for identity crisis. While set in a super-charged world of intense imagery and bizarre episodes, the existential questions that it confronts you with are real and potentially unsettling.
Not to give too much away but I feel the book ought to come with trigger warnings for suicide, sex, alcohol addiction, and most of all, a trigger warning for identity crisis. While set in a super-charged world of intense imagery and bizarre episodes, the existential questions that it confronts you with are real and potentially unsettling.
June 18, 2021
This book could be the “The wind-up bird chronicles” if it had been written by an inebriated Murakami. The kitschy neon-infested cityscape of Shinjuku, that usually epitomizes a dystopian futuristic city, is given a fresh portrayal through the intoxicated eyes of the main character. The characters including the faceless denizens of Shinjuku are given colorful backstories which are endearing. The main character’s internal crisis and self-absorption are either insanely comical or gratingly annoying depending on your moral bent. The plot is slow but has an interesting structure consisting of two meandering timelines brimming with ChuHi that converge into turbulent rapids before plunging into a sudden cascade at the end. It makes the ending rather gratifying.
November 15, 2022
This was a mash up of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas meets Tokyo Vice on a bender. It was the most aweful book. I kept waiting for it to get better, to have a point. Only the reader is led thru one alcoholic driven scene to another while the main character quotes from Homer as he self-inflicts harm everywhere he goes, all the while disrespecting Japanese culture. Horrible- don’t waste your time. Ugh.
April 17, 2023
This book teetered between 1-4 stars for me, but it wasn't the whole book that was between 1-4 stars. There would be passages I really enjoyed, followed by pages that at, quite a few points, had to shut the book and walk away. I heard through the grapevine at the library that I work at that I was NOT the only one with this opinion, and based on the reviews on here, I feel that's probably true.
I'm going to try to be nice in this review, though, since most of the reviews on it are harsh. And I'm not saying this book doesn't deserve it. Like, most of the 1-3 star ratings are 100% correct. I'm gonna blur this for spoilers, but it's not really spoilers. I don't think.
All that being said, I just don't think I liked this book. I got the vibe that the narrator is the author's self insert (and I got that vibe VERY EARLY) and it was just downhill from there. I think if this author published something else, I'd probably give it a chance, but I will probably never pick up this book again.
I'm going to try to be nice in this review, though, since most of the reviews on it are harsh. And I'm not saying this book doesn't deserve it. Like, most of the 1-3 star ratings are 100% correct. I'm gonna blur this for spoilers, but it's not really spoilers. I don't think.
All that being said, I just don't think I liked this book. I got the vibe that the narrator is the author's self insert (and I got that vibe VERY EARLY) and it was just downhill from there. I think if this author published something else, I'd probably give it a chance, but I will probably never pick up this book again.
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July 29, 2022I didn't finish this--I think maybe I would have liked it if I were in a quarter life crisis or in a wandering phase but I'm not right now and the narrator annoyed me.
August 1, 2025
I truly loved this book. I learned so much and was extremely invested in the story. Highly recommend!!
April 12, 2023
I meant to review this book ages ago but having my first kid last year kind of threw me off my schedule. I recently re-read it and with my full attention enjoyed it even more the second time around. Gordon has done a wonderful job describing the places and people of the "other" Japan. Not the anime, manga happy happy Harajuku Japan, but the Japan you get to know when you spend some real time there. You can smell the smells, taste the booze and see the women he is describing. I think this is a great book for anyone but especially for people who have spend some time in Japan, those people will GET it!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews