/lit/ - Literature

>>6993365
this man, in my country he is nothing.

>>6993365

A lot of people here were reading 1Q84 earlier ... I read two of his books (Norwegian Wood and After the Quake) and thought they were no big deal. I figured he translated poorly but then I got into Ryu Murakami and love his stuff as guilty pleasure material so I don't know...

>>6993365

I sure like him. Very fun books to read! Thats all that really matters.

>>6993630
What is your country, friend?

>>6993680
>being this fucking new

I've only read A Wild Sheep Chase. I was told it would be weird. It wasn't that weird.

>>6993734
Been here since 2008, on and off. After a quick google, it seems to be some little used /sp/ meme. Why should I be expected to know this?

>>6993365
His books are a lot like him if he were to compose a meal. Imagine dining on Haruki Murakami... but first consider my imagination of dining on Haruki Murakami: The most immediate trait would be the rubbery constitution of the meat. Murakami is old, skinny, Asian: he is not going to be tender and he is not going to be particularly tasty. A more refined palate might notice the hints of sour tart in the after taste. Those that possess this palate might choose to eat him plain, but most will have to make use of Ketchup. During the course of the meal you will inevitably get some of him stuck in your teeth and spend the remainder sporadically attempting to dig it out with your fingernails-- of course, the Murakami chunk will not come unlodged and you will end up looking like a fool. Your best option is to covertly spit him into your napkin when no one is looking. Dinner will end as it had begun, in confusion, haste, and questionable ethical conduct.

Now go ahead, imagine eating Haruki Murakami.

>>6993365
Norwegian Wood sucked ass

I liked what else I read (Sputnik Sweetheart and after the quake) but they weren't too special. Would rec after the quake though if you're interested in Murakami

yall need to read Wind-up Bird Chronicles. it's great

>>6993680
In Japan he is no person.
No one likes him.
This is means you American are bad
for buy so many his books

>>6993650
>books
>fun
Don't touch me you filthy casual. You can't think. You can't write. There is no discernible talent.

You guys sound really bitter, what books do you consider fun?

>>6994414
This has always been my least favorite meme.

>>6994367
This meme on the other hand is great.

>>6994424
Ulysses was a barrel of laughs.

>>6993964
I enjoyed this post. But really
>eating people with ketchup

I read a lot of Murakami in my early 20s, but while waiting for 1Q84 to get translated, I found myself growing less interest in reading more of his books. Still, I wouldn't call him bad by any means and I really ought to check out the remaining books that I haven't read by him some day.

Kafka on the Shore's pretty fun and endearing, probably the best place to start getting acquainted with his work. Sputnik Sweetheart's pretty boring, probably the worst one of Murakami's work I've read. The book ends just as it's finally getting interesting. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World was very weird and pretty delightful, it reminds me a little of what he later did with The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle with the well. After Dark's forgettable. A Wild Sheep Chase's was pretty entertaining but not particularly great. Norwegian Wood's pretty good in a sentimental way, and I liked the part where the one older woman tell the protagonist about how her her mental issue was that she was a private music teacher until one of her underage female student basically raped her. After the Quake's a pretty charming little book from what I can remember. I recall really liking the stuff set on the beach at night.

His short stories are also pretty interesting. Tony Takitani's pretty good one, as is the one about a woman falls in love and marries a man who's basically very reserved, emotionless like an iceman, and as they live together, IIRC, their roles switch, he becomes more like a real person while she in turn becomes more and more like an ice(wo)man. As for his non-fiction, Underground was pretty fascinating read to me personally because I had a vague sense of remembering seeing it in the news when I was a kid. Reading What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is only got niche appeal, but I like it because it kinda inspired me to start running, though it took me few years to develop the motivation to keep it up as a permanent hobby.

>>6993755
it was weird, just not weird weird.

>>6994125
Just finished reading Norwegian Wood. It was pretty shit, but I'm still interested in reading his other stuff.

>>6993766
Because its posted in every Murakami thread

>>6995177
This is more or less my feeling about the man but also the opposite of my own (holy and true) opinion on his individual books. The short ones like SS and AD are mysterious and rewarding, perfect little games in book form. Get round to Kafka/DDD and he's getting self indulgent and dragging things out too long with feeble justification from supposedly serious themes like war. WUB is more in the same direction. HBWL is utter shite. Dude needs a compressed space so he can grab his neat little schtick and deliver it without hanging around too long.

i've read norwegian wood and dance dance dance which i enjoyed but kafka on the shore got really boring imo

>>6996653
so I take it you're not a fan of his drawn out use of magical realism?

>>6997002
I think magical realism is one of his best traits.

It's the scenes in between the little pockets of magical realism that start to bore.

>>6993964
But I'd be hungry again a half hour later

I'm almost done with my Kafka, which is my first Murakami experience.

Honestly not sure what to think. I read him because he's always mentioned here and also I'm looking for surreal/hyperbolic works for inspiration.

It has that surreal element but I don't know what anything means. Like, I feel like it's all supposed to mean something but I don't get it. I keep expecting some kind of light bulb to go off but I don't think it's going to happen and it's frustrating.

Curiosity has kept me going. Also I've never cared for dialogue heavy works, especially when the character's almost all have the same voice. I mean they're different enough as people but when you've got blocks of dialogue it's pretty obvious that it all comes from one man. Maybe it has something to do with the translation.

>>6999527
Worst book I've read by him, mostly just a mess.

>>6994424

The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll. Now that's a fun book!

>>6996035
Most people says that NW is way outside of his usual work, and from what I've read, I agree. NW is realistic; his other works are not.

>>7000209

Norwegian Wood is broadly sentimental nostalgia about tragic love, even a bit sappy, so it's pretty accessible and appealing to most readers. The rest of Murakami's non-fiction work tends to contain surrealistic and magical realism so they tend to be of interest to more post-modern inclined readers.