Ransom by Jay McInerney

Ransom was Jay McInerney's second book, following the terrific Bright Lights, Big City, which was a huge hit. McInerney was at the top of the wave of new writers in the '80s along with Tama Janowitz and Bret Easton Ellis.

Ransom came out in 1985 in the midst of Bright Lights popularity, and perhaps people wanted more of the same. Ransom has a different voice and presents a different take on Japan.

Christopher Ransom is studying martial arts in Kyoto, hanging with expatriates at a blues bar called Buffalo Rome, which accommodates the drifters flowing through Asia. Unsettled, he avoids conflict but finds himself in the middle of it. His friend, bar owner Miles Ryder, has a relationship and business but seems as groundless in a culture in which he will always be an outsider.

Ransom practices karate, gets involved with a singer who is endangered by the Yakuza, and wanders around. I found him boring most of the time and wondered where the story was going. I was outside looking in; maybe that was the point.

There are flashbacks where Ransom and two friends are in Kabul, which elaborate on his journey to Kyoto. These and other memories seem like they are from a different book to me. Exciting, involving, and intriguing, I wish the book was more in that direction.

The characters are well-drawn, but the nihilistic tone kept me from getting involved. All of this leads to a depressing, disappointing, and sudden climax.

It was, and still is, a little mystifying.

The fact that I am still bothered by the tone-changing ending tells me Ransom was a full character who still lives on in my mind. Doesn't mean I have to like him though.

I was ready to give this a great review, but there was something missing that prevented me from engaging. Other reviews are polarized from "Five Stars. A massively under-rated classic" to simply "I just freakin' hated this book." I am somewhere in the middle. It was often irritating. And that ending---

However, it's a book I'll hold on to. Strange.

Ransom, along with Bright Lights, was part of a series of Vintage Contemporaries published by Random House. These distinctive trade paperbacks had series 'new wave' design on the covers, and introduced me to some favourite new authors. (There is a great blog about these book covers here: https://talkingcovers.com/2012/09/12/vintage-contemporaries/ )

1985 / Paperback / 288 pages