I have a mixed reception of Murakami’s works. I liked A Hardbroiled Wonderland and The End of the World, Norwegian Wood, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle but didn’t like The Sputnik Sweetheart, Kafka in the Shore, and the stories in After The Quake.
I also remember reading The Wild Sheep Chase and South of the Border, West of the Sun. I think I found his works endearing to my former sense of superfluity, melancholy, and hopeless romanticism – petty bourgeois traits that I have criticized in a reading of Orhan Pamuk’s Snow. https://karlomongaya.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/the-superfluous-man-as-disillusioned-progressive-in-orhan-pamuk%e2%80%99s-kars/
IQ84‘s first chapte is posted in Murakami’s Facebook page. The book seems like more of the same mix of surreal narratives, dystopic visions of capitalism, and messed up protagonists that has become a hit with a cosmopolitan petty bourgeois youth pampered by the system and therefore too apathetic to act in the face of ever worsening crisis.
Memnoch26 wrote:I heard about Murakami from my Korean friends. Apparently, he is Japan's "Superstar Author." When I asked Murakami's writing genre, the answer I got is "weird and confusing." My friend couldn't put the exact words into his mouth. This caught my attention so i started reading some of his works.
i have read Norwegian Wood, The WInd-up Bird and Kafka on the shore. The last two books borders on the tragic and sci fi (supernatural). My favorite is Norwegian wood. Though the ending is still tragic, the rest of the book is interesting for me. Am really interested to read about Japanese culture that is why am reading Murakami's books.
Am still in the first few chapters of 1Q84. I re-read the first few chapters just to make sure I got a good grasp of the characters. So far, am loving it.
Wanda wrote:Good for you that you're enjoying murakami. I read Kafka on the shore and got lost after the 1st few chapters! If you're interested in Japanese culture check out this thriller I was able read previously called OUT by Natsuo Kirino. It's less bizarre but it's also really a thriller. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_(novel)Memnoch26 wrote:I heard about Murakami from my Korean friends. Apparently, he is Japan's "Superstar Author." When I asked Murakami's writing genre, the answer I got is "weird and confusing." My friend couldn't put the exact words into his mouth. This caught my attention so i started reading some of his works.
i have read Norwegian Wood, The WInd-up Bird and Kafka on the shore. The last two books borders on the tragic and sci fi (supernatural). My favorite is Norwegian wood. Though the ending is still tragic, the rest of the book is interesting for me. Am really interested to read about Japanese culture that is why am reading Murakami's books.
Am still in the first few chapters of 1Q84. I re-read the first few chapters just to make sure I got a good grasp of the characters. So far, am loving it.
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