Review: Ramen, Existential Crisis by Roie Oknin

 

Review: Ramen, Existential Crisis by Roie Oknin

Genre: Literary Fiction

Pages: 164

Published: 5 August 2026

Book Blurb: Koji is twenty-seven and one module short of a degree in Politics and Government. The missing module is Crisis Management. It feels appropriate.

For six years, he has worked in a tiny ramen shop with eleven seats, one dish and a broth whose flame has not gone out in thirty-two years. The ramen noodles cook for exactly eighty-five seconds.

Then the timer fails. A stranger gives Koji his business card. Someone from his past walks into the restaurant. Around him, other people make decisions and continue with their lives.

Koji has always known what should be done.

Doing it is another matter.

 

Short story: I loved this spare, beautiful story! 

My Review: From the first page, the writing style of Roie Oknin sucked me in. It’s spare but beautiful, nothing superfluous, everything is exact; just like making the perfect bowl of ramen soup. Koji is an achingly sympathetic character. After dropping out of college, his world shrank to the confines of the noodle shop. Inertia has taken over his life, and he fears anything that might require a choice or an action not involved in the precise ritual of the soup.

Like I said, the writing is wonderful., I felt as if I was dropped into the noodle shop. I loved the description of the broth, the precision or movement, the choreography with which each element is added. The storytelling has an almost hypnotic quality to it. Time slows down as you get lost in the narrative. You want Koji to act but you don't want the story to end. 

Koji’s struggles will grab at your heart. The anxiety that rules his life. The fear of change which prevents him from making progress. I felt his pain and willed him to take the first step only to be disappointed, not in him but for him. His co-workers became his family. Each knew when to prod and when to pull back, understanding that change had to come from within. Koji could not be forced to to pick up the reins of his life and move on.  He had to arrive at that place in a time and manner of his own choosing. I think one of the reasons this book really resonated with me is that I can see people I know in Koji. 

I highly recommend this lovely book to readers who enjoy literary fiction and a great story. Enjoy!