paperback, 611 pages
Published Sept. 13, 1997 by KNOPF..
Japan’s most highly regarded novelist now vaults into the first ranks of international fiction writers with this heroically imaginative novel, which is at once a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets of World War II. ([source][1])
Japan’s most highly regarded novelist now vaults into the first ranks of international fiction writers with this heroically imaginative novel, which is at once a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets of World War II. ([source][1])
All loose ends, all confusion. Just couldn't get into it. Plowed through anyway.
All loose ends, all confusion. Just couldn't get into it. Plowed through anyway.
A wild ride. Mysteries piled upon mysteries, but without the luxury of having any of them explained to you at the end. Reportedly, the English translation was heavily abridged - the original was published in three volumes. On one hand, the full text might have made more sense. But on the other hand, I barely managed to finish the book as it is.
Toru, the protagonist, is a cipher. A passive, passionless man who drifts through life, doing nothing of his own volition. (In the real world, anyway. In an alternate reality somewhere in his own mind he manages to have an affair and to kill a man.) He has no stories of his own, but absorbs the stories of those that he meets. And boy, are they doozies. Spies getting flayed alive in WWII in Manchuria, surviving (or not) the Siberian gulag.
I listened to an audio version, where …
A wild ride. Mysteries piled upon mysteries, but without the luxury of having any of them explained to you at the end. Reportedly, the English translation was heavily abridged - the original was published in three volumes. On one hand, the full text might have made more sense. But on the other hand, I barely managed to finish the book as it is.
Toru, the protagonist, is a cipher. A passive, passionless man who drifts through life, doing nothing of his own volition. (In the real world, anyway. In an alternate reality somewhere in his own mind he manages to have an affair and to kill a man.) He has no stories of his own, but absorbs the stories of those that he meets. And boy, are they doozies. Spies getting flayed alive in WWII in Manchuria, surviving (or not) the Siberian gulag.
I listened to an audio version, where the speaker did different voices for each character. And God did I hate the one he used for May Kasahara. All brassy Valley Girl. I winced when she had dialog. Or worse, when she wrote an entire letter.
All I know is we are on a life's journey and sometimes we will fall down a well in search of the point to it all and to the people places and events we will encounter along the way.
All I know is we are on a life's journey and sometimes we will fall down a well in search of the point to it all and to the people places and events we will encounter along the way.
Enjoyed this inexplicably... I think there's something about his magic that is just right for this world.
Enjoyed this inexplicably... I think there's something about his magic that is just right for this world.
This was an experience unlike any other. Murakami writes hypnotically, describing an average experience so well that you become lulled into its reality. Then things get strange and you're so steeped in the book that you feel the bizarre world envelope you. It's powerful storytelling.
There were times when one of many subplots would get really involved and it was hard to see how it was relevant. In the end, all things come together.
I'll definitely be reading more of Murakami's work.
This was an experience unlike any other. Murakami writes hypnotically, describing an average experience so well that you become lulled into its reality. Then things get strange and you're so steeped in the book that you feel the bizarre world envelope you. It's powerful storytelling.
There were times when one of many subplots would get really involved and it was hard to see how it was relevant. In the end, all things come together.
I'll definitely be reading more of Murakami's work.
I'm really feeling conflicted about my rating. In some ways I kind of hated this book, but in other ways I thought it was good. The main problem was all the little side stories and vignettes felt very separate from the main story, almost like Murakami had a bunch of short stories and he kind of built a novel out of them. (Similar to how I felt about Cloud Atlas). Somehow the separate vignettes never did meld; they felt superfluous, like the main plot didn't really gain much from the telling of some of these stories. At the same time, some of those superfluous stories, especially the war stories, were the ones that were the most interesting to me, perhaps because they felt the most "real" as I'm not big on the whole "magical realism" thing to begin with. This book isn't the usual type of book I like to …
I'm really feeling conflicted about my rating. In some ways I kind of hated this book, but in other ways I thought it was good. The main problem was all the little side stories and vignettes felt very separate from the main story, almost like Murakami had a bunch of short stories and he kind of built a novel out of them. (Similar to how I felt about Cloud Atlas). Somehow the separate vignettes never did meld; they felt superfluous, like the main plot didn't really gain much from the telling of some of these stories. At the same time, some of those superfluous stories, especially the war stories, were the ones that were the most interesting to me, perhaps because they felt the most "real" as I'm not big on the whole "magical realism" thing to begin with. This book isn't the usual type of book I like to read but I thought I'd expand my horizons and give it a chance based on the excellent reviews most people give it. That said, I was intrigued by Murakami's ideas about reality, dreams, fantasy, the thin veil separating what we consider reality from what we consider "other", how dreams can bleed into the day and alter and change things in subtle and not so subtle ways. I also liked the idea that events from the past reverberate through time, leaving a permanent scar that can taint the countenance of the present. I wasn't too hotsy on the hodgepodge way the book dealt with the characters, how some of the stories were never resolved or some of the characters just sort of disappeared.
I'll have to let this one settle for a while.
While it started out a lot like "1Q84" (there is even a recurring character between the two novels), it didn't end up the same. I still maintain there's a marked similarity between Murakami's characters and a Paul Auster character — levelheaded, displaced, and ultimately pretty passive. There's a lot of stories-within-the-story here, too. I always feel like Paul Auster's incidential plot points are contributing to the overall story, though, while with Murakami, somethings there's things that just sorta fizzle out, or are connected to the overall story in a very complicated way that I just can't figure out.
While it started out a lot like "1Q84" (there is even a recurring character between the two novels), it didn't end up the same. I still maintain there's a marked similarity between Murakami's characters and a Paul Auster character — levelheaded, displaced, and ultimately pretty passive. There's a lot of stories-within-the-story here, too. I always feel like Paul Auster's incidential plot points are contributing to the overall story, though, while with Murakami, somethings there's things that just sorta fizzle out, or are connected to the overall story in a very complicated way that I just can't figure out.
First Murakami book I ever read. It was absolutely ~magical~. I loved it. I loved it so much.
Lots of texture. Many great characters. The story is confusing--like watching a dream inside a nightmare inside a metaphor...
Lots of texture. Many great characters. The story is confusing--like watching a dream inside a nightmare inside a metaphor...
It's possible that this book was merely over-hyped to me by friends and was thus bound to disappoint. Either way, my overall impression was of a narrative with amazing build-up and either entirely absent or else completely indecipherable release.
It's possible that this book was merely over-hyped to me by friends and was thus bound to disappoint. Either way, my overall impression was of a narrative with amazing build-up and either entirely absent or else completely indecipherable release.
I was enjoying this book until I got to the horribly gruesome scene that I wish I had never read. I am angry at this author for putting those pictures in my head and angry at the friend who gave me this book as a gift. Yes, it is "good," but I really don't need more images of human suffering floating around in my mind, I've got enough, thanks.
I was enjoying this book until I got to the horribly gruesome scene that I wish I had never read. I am angry at this author for putting those pictures in my head and angry at the friend who gave me this book as a gift. Yes, it is "good," but I really don't need more images of human suffering floating around in my mind, I've got enough, thanks.
