Almost Transparent Blue

Almost Transparent Blue (1976) by Ryu Murakami
Ryu Murakami wrote Almost Transparent Blue while still a student at Musashino Art University, and it's a work that ended up winning him the prestigious Akutagawa Prize. The book follows a group of dissolute Japanese youths in the mid-1970s, and is infused with themes of sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll. Murakami takes the reader on an unnerving journey through the minds and bodies of a set of friends whose main concerns are where they are going to get their next drug fix from. Accused by some critics of being crass and overindulgent, Murakami certainly does not shy away from graphic descriptions of mescaline-induced hallucinations and sudden moments of brutality, which serve to make the lives of his protagonists seem even more hollow and mundane. Almost Transparent Blue unfolds in a haze of debauchery to the soundtrack of The Doors and the urban soundscape of 1970s Japan.