Haruki Murakami

[tzar1990]

Anyone here a fan of Haruki Murakami? If so, what's your favorite book? I personally favor The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, although I also like Kafka on the Shore.

Also, for those more well-read than I am, do most of his novels feature romance or attraction between people with creepy age differences? I've only read Kafka, Norwegian Wood, and Wind-Up Bird, but the first two both have people having sex with a major age difference, and I think that May was attaracted to Toru in Wind-up Bird.

[Simius]

You should really read Hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world.
I liked it better than Kafka on the Shore. Slightly less creepy too.

At the moment I'm reading A wild sheep chase, but I'm not far enough in it to make any judgements.

And yes, if you're easily creeped-out, you'd better not be reading most of his stuff

[Kizyr]

We read some of his short stories in my Modern Japanese Lit class (in Japanese, not English). He was... really imaginative. His stories all had a really peculiar charm to them.

I should probably read some of his work in English sometime. I have one or two of his novels in Japanese at home that I haven't been able to get to yet. "The Children of God All Dance" is one ("神の子どもたちはみな踊る"--not sure if there's an official translation).

EDIT: "The Children of God All Dance" is actually a collection of short stories, not a novel. My bad. KF

[Malice]

I read "After Dark" and really enjoyed it, even though it never really explained anything. I also read one of his short stories, the one about the bakery robbery.

Then last week I was in the bookstore and decided to buy The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and (one of my favorite titles ever), "South of the Border, West of the Sun", which so far is quietly beautiful and moving. I'm about halfway in, and I've hit a point Murakami seems to do very well, which is two people in the depths of loneliness connecting late at night because, really, there's no one else who understands them and their loneliness.

[aion7]

I've read some, absolutely incredible Murikami short stories. My favorite were The Rise and Fall of Sharpie Cakes, and The Man Eating Cats. Once you read them you will never forget them. I know they'll stick with me till the day I die, along with such classics as 1984, Fight Club and The Martian Chronicles. They're really up there. I'm going to read one of his novels soon. Probably The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles.

[tenohsix]

I haven't read a whole lot of Murakami, but I did really enjoy Dance Dance Dance, which I believe is the sequel to A Wild Sheep Chase (haven't read this one, though). I'm definitely saving several of his books for my to-read list over the summer.

He does also have quite a few really good short stories. "The Second Bakery Attack," is available to read online here. If nothing else, it's got one of the best titles ever.

[ducknerd]

I've only read some of his short stories, but he's amazing. It's interesting that you never... quite... GET any of them, but they still just suck you in. Man-Eating Cats was nice, except for the very end. I really liked Dabchick.

[nevskey1]

I've only read Chronicles. I started out extremely interested, but was disappointed in the end. A lot wasn't really explained or tied together at all. Much of the subplots just sort of faded away. Nevertheless, somehow I still wasn't completely turned off, so when I get a chance I'll certainly read some more of his stuff. Also, aside from plot, he really is a terrific writer (at least in translation).

[aion7]

I've only read some of his short stories, but he's amazing. It's interesting that you never... quite... GET any of them, but they still just suck you in. Man-Eating Cats was nice, except for the very end. I really liked Dabchick.

Dabchick was really cool. Not the best representative of his short stories (by that I mean that it was atypical of his work), but a good short story nonetheless.

[Egla]

South of the Border, West of the Sun is my favorite. And by the way, there is no major age difference between love-makers in this book.

[TheAmazingRando]

I've only read Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I bought my girlfriend a collection of his short stories last year for her birthday, but we broke up before I got a chance to borrow it from her.

[darwinwins]

i began with norweigan wood followed by sputnik sweetheart. now there's a trippy experience. he's my favorite author.

[aion7]

I'm currently reading A Wild Sheep Chase. It's very good. The quotes from magazines and famous people on the back, however, are very inaccurate, and should not be trusted.

[Malice]

I just finished "South of the Border, West of the Sun" this morning. Can't say I understand it, but it was certainly beautiful. I look forward to rereading it later in life and seeing more of it.

[trickster721]

Hmm. I'm nervous about translations, but from what I've been hearing I'm going to have to check him out.

Does anybody know if there's some new book or something that's caused this surge of western attention? Or did it just... happen? Or did it not happen at all, and I'm just seeing patterns again?

[Malice]

Well, "After Dark" came out last May, which is how I started reading him. So maybe that?

And why be nervous about translations? The alternatives are don't read it at all, or learn the language...

[yukari koizumi]

I have read Kafka on the Shore and I am in the middle of The Wind Up Bird Chronicle right now, and I would have to say I absolutely love Murakami.

At first I didn't expect Chronicle to be as good to me as Kafka was, but I was proven wrong when first opening this book....
It's no wonder for me at all that I should most likely feel the same way about any of his books he writes.

To me Kafka is still number one for me because of Kafka himself and The Boy Named Crow... and how it reminds me of things.

[Chevon]

I've read Kafka by the Shore, The Wind Up Bird Chronicles and Sputnik Sweetheart. I thing I love most about Murikami is that reading him feels like a dream. It starts out realistically (at least, in the books I've read), and then this seperate reality is insinuated. The inexplicable happens, and never gets explained.

[aion7]

I've read Kafka by the Shore, The Wind Up Bird Chronicles and Sputnik Sweetheart. I thing I love most about Murikami is that reading him feels like a dream. It starts out realistically (at least, in the books I've read), and then this seperate reality is insinuated. The inexplicable happens, and never gets explained.

I must say, that that* is an incredibly accurate description. Kudos to you, good sir.

* "that that" sounded better in my head, and I couldn't think of anything to exchange it for. I think the brain store ripped me off.

[Lotaria]

Oh, Haruki.

I have very mixed feelings about Murakami at the moment. I absolutely adore his earlier works (the exception to which I shall detail shortly): Hardboiled Wonderland and Sputnick Sweetheart are my favourites. His metaphors are so seductive!
(The exception is Norweigian Wood. In the translator's note following the story, Murakami is quoted admitting that the novel was a step away from his usual style. It just didn't seem like a very successful step to me.)

However, of late, I feel he has become too commercial. I mean, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman? Most authors don't have their "unfinished drafts"/"only half-good fragments" published until after they die. Also, I recently read a story that he'd written for Harper's magazine, Chance Traveler, and it seemed like his heart wasn't really in it anymore.

Oh, Haruki.

[Chevon]

However, of late, I feel he has become too commercial. I mean, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman? Most authors don't have their "unfinished drafts"/"only half-good fragments" published until after they die. Also, I recently read a story that he'd written for Harper's magazine, Chance Traveler, and it seemed like his heart wasn't really in it anymore.

Oh, Haruki.

Hmm, I just read Chance Traveler, and I liked it. Here's the link http://www.network54.com/Forum/15537/message/1145831605/CHANCE+TRAVELER+-+By+Haruki+MurakamiIt It did feel weaker than the other things I've read. Maybe there was a bad translator? I'd like to believe that Murakami hasn't commercialized himself.

@ anion7, Go back to the store and demand a refund! Too bad brain stores aren't subjected to government inspections.

[Lotaria]

Methinks 'twas not the fault of the translator. Consulting my photocopy of the original article, I see that it was Philip Gabriel who translated Chance Traveller; amongst others, he also translated Sputnick, a text that is very dear to me.

And believe you me, I too wish to believe that Murakami has not sold his soul to commercialism. I vacillate between stony denial and crying myself to sleep at night.

[joff]

I have Kafka on the Shore sitting on my bookshelf. I'm still a Murakami virgin, but It's beckoning to me.... I'm thinking it's gotta be the next book I pick up....

[Nyssa]

I've got Hard Boiled Wonderland (etc) floating around my apartment. When I started reading it, I lost it, picked up another book, started reading that one, and then found the Murakami book. Well, at that point... you know how it is. Some books you are destined to repeatedly lose. That's one of mine. I'll find it, read a little, lose it again, start a different book, wash, rinse, repeat.

However, I've heard that Norwegian Wood is one of the most depressing books you can ever read. Is this true?

[tetromino]

The only novel of his that I've read is Hardboiled Wonderland. I have to say that it started out interesting, but by the end fell flat. If you are building a fantasy world, you really have two choices: construct it in meticulous self-consistent detail, Tolkien-style, or keep all the inner workings misty and mysterious so that the reader can fill in the blanks. Murakami instead filled in the details with wholly unsatisfying fluff. I mean, come on, underground caverns beneath the city inhabited by malevolent fish-men? Lovecraft did it 70 years earlier, and did it better.

IMHO, Haibane Renmei handled the mysterious-city-surrounded-by-impassable-wall theme much better. Not bothering to explain how such a world works made for a more believable story.

On the other hand, I love Murakami's short stories. The Dancing Dwarf for example is a disturbing, fascinating story that will gnaw your brain from the inside for weeks. And On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning will draw blood from your inner romantic.

[dbsmith]

Heya, anyone know of any other authors out there that write in a similar fashion? Like with mystery, and dream-likeness.... someone elses description below might help:

> I thing I love most about Murikami is that reading him feels like a dream. It starts out realistically (at least, in the books I've read), and then this seperate reality is insinuated. The inexplicable happens, and never gets explained.

[nevskey1]

anyone know of any other authors out there that write in a similar fashion? Like with mystery, and dream-likeness.... someone elses description below might help:

> I thing I love most about Murikami is that reading him feels like a dream. It starts out realistically (at least, in the books I've read), and then this seperate reality is insinuated. The inexplicable happens, and never gets explained

Kafka. Franz. Anything by him will fit the bill, especially The Trial and The Castle. John Fowles's The Magus reminds me a bit of Wind-Bird. (Those are the only ones by either author I've read and I think I read them in succession. I liked Fowles more.) Also, Nikolai Gogol is along similar lines. His stories "The Nose" and "Diary of a Madman" are crazy dreamscapes, especially the first one. (You might as well check out his most famous story "The Overcoat" for good measure.) And I haven't read it, but I gather that his novel Dead Souls is also quite Murakami-esque (i.e., Kafkaesque). Oh, and Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita also gets quite strange, and quite inexplicably.

[Malice]

Oh, and Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita also gets quite strange, and quite inexplicably.

The Master and Margarita is one of the finest novels I've ever read.

[semicolon]

Anybody else read Pinball, 1973? It's the only Murakami book I managed to finish. I got about 1/3 through Hard-boiled Wonderland and about halfway through Wind-Up Bird Chronicle but neither of them really hooked me enough to get me to finish them. I didn't have that trouble with Pinball. I thought the whole plotline about him having an attachment to the specific kind of Pinball machine, and the scene where he goes to the warehouse and finally plays it after years, were really amazing.

Didn't bother to spoiler tag anything because they're not really spoilers. Pinball doesn't really rely on suspense or uncertainty to be entertaining.

[alexjhh]

Oh, and Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita also gets quite strange, and quite inexplicably.

The Master and Margarita is one of the finest novels I've ever read.

I'm most of the way through this, and still not entirely sure what to make of it. He's got 100 pages to really really impress me

I always considered Kafka to be Murakami's best, but that's probably because it was my 'first time' with that whole dreamlike thing. It's fantastic. I've also read Dance Dance Dance, Hard Boiled Wonderland, and probably a couple of others. Don't think I ever finished a Wild Sheep Chase though, I'm not entirely sure why.

I always thought that I react to Murakami in the same way that I react toward a lot of 'art' I like - It sort of pulls at you somewhere that you're not quite fully comprehensive of, and don't really understand - the closest I can get is something like "tugging at heartstrings", but in a less necessesarily romantic way. I'd like to think that is something like getting close to human nature, but I'm a romantic about these things.

Less surreal, but if you like 'moment' based short stories, try "Noone belongs here more than you" by Miranda July. She also did a great film called "Me and You and Everyone We Know" that did pretty well at Sundance one year that did that same sort of tugging for me.

Also, going more toward magical realism, check out 100 Years of Solitude (and anything else) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The guy got a Nobel Prize, and seriously deserved it. Also something along the lines of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera fills a similar place in my heart.

[Malice]

Oh, and Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita also gets quite strange, and quite inexplicably.

The Master and Margarita is one of the finest novels I've ever read.

I'm most of the way through this, and still not entirely sure what to make of it. He's got 100 pages to really really impress me

The ending's the best part, really, and exquisitely written, to boot.

It's a strange novel, certainly. You have to be kinda familiar with the New Testament, Goethe's Faust, and the history of Russian literature if you're going to get the full thrust of it, but even by itself it's pretty nifty.

I always thought that I react to Murakami in the same way that I react toward a lot of 'art' I like - It sort of pulls at you somewhere that you're not quite fully comprehensive of, and don't really understand - the closest I can get is something like "tugging at heartstrings", but in a less necessesarily romantic way. I'd like to think that is something like getting close to human nature, but I'm a romantic about these things.

I agree with you, but I honestly don't know how he does it. It's so entirely subtle that I go, "This really isn't that interesting" while I'm reading it, waiting for the exciting part to happen, and then four chapters later I realize my heart is breaking and I don't know why. Clearly more study must be made.

[Culden]

Interesting, I'm planning on reading The Wind-up Bird Chronicle this weekend, hope it's as good as I've heard.

[CHeMnISTe BOY]

I've only read Chronicles. I started out extremely interested, but was disappointed in the end. A lot wasn't really explained or tied together at all. Much of the subplots just sort of faded away. Nevertheless, somehow I still wasn't completely turned off, so when I get a chance I'll certainly read some more of his stuff. Also, aside from plot, he really is a terrific writer (at least in translation).

Chronicles was the first of his that I read and I could tell straight away that I'd really enjoy it. The first few chapters were basically just about an average guy going about his day without interacting with many people, but they were still really compelling. I think that's something that very few writers can do well, so they jump in with a lot of action and force the story on you, whereas Murakami draws you in slowly. I expect the translators deserve some credit for that as well though.

As you say, I was a bit disappointed at the end because several of the subplots involving other characters weren't resolved and the mysterious/surreal elements weren't very well explained, but now that I've read a few more of his books I think I just didn't understand his style. His stories are all about the journey of the main character (who isn't always the narrator, mind you) and how other people influence or help them along the way. Like in life you don't always get to see how the other people's journeys end and things will happen to you that you may never understand.

Also, for those more well-read than I am, do most of his novels feature romance or attraction between people with creepy age differences? I've only read Kafka, Norwegian Wood, and Wind-Up Bird, but the first two both have people having sex with a major age difference, and I think that May was attaracted to Toru in Wind-up Bird.

Relationships between different age groups do seem to be a recurring factor in his stories. Hard-boiled wonderland involved a teenage girl having feelings for the protagonist, Sputnik Sweetheart centres around a lesbian relationship with a large age gap and the main character in Dance Dance Dance, a thirty-odd man, becomes close friends with a thirteen year-old girl.

Maybe it's a just a cultural difference that makes us find those relationships creepy, but I'm not so sure. I think it makes a good point about how lonely the characters are and how they are so alienated from 'normal' society that age differences no longer matter. It kind of reminds me of About A Boy by Nick Hornby.

The only novel of his that I've read is Hardboiled Wonderland. I have to say that it started out interesting, but by the end fell flat. If you are building a fantasy world, you really have two choices: construct it in meticulous self-consistent detail, Tolkien-style, or keep all the inner workings misty and mysterious so that the reader can fill in the blanks. Murakami instead filled in the details with wholly unsatisfying fluff. I mean, come on, underground caverns beneath the city inhabited by malevolent fish-men? Lovecraft did it 70 years earlier, and did it better.

IMHO, Haibane Renmei handled the mysterious-city-surrounded-by-impassable-wall theme much better. Not bothering to explain how such a world works made for a more believable story.

I agree, I think I prefer his books where the surreal elements aren't spelled out so clearly and I didn't really see the point in the underground fishmen. I also thought that even though the fantasy 'End Of The World' storyline was good (and it reminded me of Haibane Renmei too) I was more interested in the more typically-Murakami 'Hardboiled Wonderland' storyline, so whenever a fantasy chapter came along I didn't enjoy it as much as I would normally because I just wanted to get back to the main sci-fi story. I thought that brought down the whole book.


Has anyone here seen Tony Takitani? It's a film based on one of his short stories. I saw it before I read any of his stuff and I really want to go back and watch it again. It's pretty good, even though it's very clearly based on a piece of literature (quite heavy on narration, kind of like the intro to Amelie) but it doesn't suffer as a result because towards the end it becomes slow moving and contemplative, lingering on the central point of the story.

For fans of Japanese Lit., has anyone read anything by Kenzaburo Oe? I've been meaning to check out his stuff for a while but haven't been able to find any.

[nevskey1]

As you say, I was a bit disappointed at the end because several of the subplots involving other characters weren't resolved and the mysterious/surreal elements weren't very well explained, but now that I've read a few more of his books I think I just didn't understand his style. His stories are all about the journey of the main character (who isn't always the narrator, mind you) and how other people influence or help them along the way. Like in life you don't always get to see how the other people's journeys end and things will happen to you that you may never understand.

Ah, thanks. That clears things up for me. I'll definitely be reading more Murakami in the future. Do you have any favorites you can reccomend?

Amelie

That reminds me of a reminder that I forgot. Has anyone here seen the movie Pi? (I think it's a requirement to join these fora, or something.) Well, that girl May in Wind-Up Bird reminded me so much of that gir from Pi. Particularly the end of the movie, where the mathmetician is looking up, kind of in his own world, and the girl is trying to draw him back to reality. The way she speaks to him like a voice calling out of a dream. That girl and that scene (and the feeling it evokes) were all I could envision during the novel.

For fans of Japanese Lit., has anyone read anything by Kenzaburo Oe?

I haven't heard of Oe, but last year I kept wanting to Woman of the Dunes by Kobo Abe but it was always checked out of the library at school. Now none of the ones by my house have it. (*tear*) Do you know if that book is as cool as it sounds.

[CHeMnISTe BOY]

Ah, thanks. That clears things up for me. I'll definitely be reading more Murakami in the future. Do you have any favorites you can reccomend?

Out of the ones I've read, Kafka On The Shore is the most similar to Wind-up Bird. It's another fairly long, complex story involving a lot of supernatural/surreal elements. 'A Wild Sheep Chase' and its sequel 'Dance Dance Dance' are in the same vein, but for some reason they took me longer to get into. I think perhaps because they were earlier books the style wasn't quite as polished as in the later ones. That said by the end of Dance I was pretty much hooked, it has some really strong supporting characters, that's one of my favourites but it might be a bit confusing if you don't read Sheep Chase first.

Sputnik Sweetheart is another of my favourites, it's kind of like Chronicles-lite in that it's much shorter and more simplistic than his other books, and also because it involves similar surreal concepts but to much lesser extent.

I haven't heard of Oe, but last year I kept wanting to Woman of the Dunes by Kobo Abe but it was always checked out of the library at school. Now none of the ones by my house have it. (*tear*) Do you know if that book is as cool as it sounds.

I've never read anything by him, but I'm just reading up on Woman Of The Dunes on wikipedia and it sounds pretty good, it's compared to Sartre, I generally enjoy existential literature. Apparently it's also a film so I think I'll add it to my rental list.

[yukari koizumi]

i have to confirm i have finished wind-up , and i was sort of left hanging at the end ... i mean i wanted more from the sisters! i really did!
then i bought hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world, and that i was a bit glad and sad that i sort of predicted the ending with the main character... but it was still a really good read .... and now i have just started norwegian wood which i chose to save till the last because my sister said its her favourite murakami book..... (when i say saved for last i mean out of the books i recently bought) ..... after this though i am sure to pick up more murakami books till i collect them all.

[TallMax]

I feel like he shies just short of epic. His style is very much "blatantly telling you the scene, or being extremely vague until you can't really interpret anything", and while it works most of the time sometimes it goes too far in either extreme and I feel like "alright, lets shift back into normality."

Don't get me wrong, I like his work, sometimes very much so, but there's just this glaring thing that keeps me from yelling his name off of my roof that I can't get past in his work.

[bennyprofane]

A similar writer to Murakami, though one whom is infinitely better imo, is Kobo Abe. Go pick up The Woman in the Dunes and you'll see what I mean. His stories have a slightly absurd bent, but retain this detailed, almost scientific portrait of the psychological, physical, and emotional state of the protagonist.

Other books by him include The Box Man and The Face of Another.

[Montrose]

I really like Murakami's books, but I'm convinced that there's a bet involved.

The scene: A small quiet bar in Tokyo, 1 AM.
Murakami and a Friend sit at a table. The table is littered with empty beer bottles.

Friend: Murakami, you're amazing. No matter what you write, people will read it.

Murakami: Nahhh, you're just flattering me.

Friend: No, I'm serious. Here, I'll make a bet. 50,000 Yen says that no matter what you write about, it'll sell.

Murakami: I'll take that bet. Here, just watch, I'm gonna go write something so bizarre that no one will read it.

Friend: Hah! I'd like to see that.

[jayhsu]

Has anyone actually liked Norwegian Wood? (Aside from like the last paragraph, which was amazing).

Also great japanese author: Banana Yoshimoto. You know she has to eb great, because her name is Banana! (She said it was androgynous, I believe...)

She's like a female Murakami, her books are really cute (and weird as hell sometimes).