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/lit/ - Literature

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2243447 No.2243447 [Reply] [Original]

My new books arrived. I have read, I think, every other Murakami book there is - he is the single author I buy on blind faith.

What do you think of these? I actually haven't heard anything about them.

I was in the camp of really loving Kafka, by the way, which had everyone saying it wasn't as good as his old stuff when it came out, which is weird to me. His style hasn't changed much over the years, and his substance has mostly been ever improving.

>> No.2243451

He writes about love and cats.

I read him on stormy days or when I have a cold. He is my literature for when I don't feel like reading literature. Going to pick up 1Q84 when it stops being sixty dollars.

>> No.2243460

>$60

The hell is up with US book pricing - Is that for all 3 books, right?

>> No.2243464

>>2243460
>>2243451

It's 16 bucks on Amazon.

>> No.2243466

>>2243447
I have that same edition in one book. Way too big to read on the train.

>> No.2243468

>>2243460
I felt robbed paying 30 odd dollars US for the US edition in Japan. Where can it be charged $60?

>> No.2243470

>>2243447
I'm interested in the author,
what are a few especially good works by him?

>> No.2243473

>>2243470
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is totally worth reading. I'm still working my way through his works, but that has been the most impressive so far. The mixture of everyday life, history, and metaphysics is really good.

>> No.2243475 [DELETED] 

Shoplifting From American Apparel or Eee Eee Eee are excellent starting points.

>> No.2243476

>>2243470
Shoplifting From American Apparel and Eee Eee Eee are excellent starting points. Many consider them masterpieces in their own right.

>> No.2243477

>>2243470
Kafka on the Shore or what >>2243473 said

but basically you can grab anything by him, all his stuff is pretty much on the same level

>> No.2243479

>>2243476
What this guy said. The most distinctively Japanese of the bunch and also quite brilliant. I believe these two display Murakami's voice with a certain triumph unlike his other works.

>> No.2243480

1q84 is his worst book, not worth putting up with 900 pages of padding to read a story about two generic murakami doppelgangers

>> No.2243483

>Hear murakami great
>read 'after dark'
>it's shit

>> No.2243486

>>2243483
his style is present, but I agree; not a good starting point. I get the impression he was under pressure from his publisher or something, unless he plans a continuation.

>> No.2243487

>>2243486
Yea, I hear you. I gave him another shot and found myself delighted the second time around. Shoplifting From American Apparel is magnificent

>> No.2243494

Pretty good book. I like it.

>> No.2243527

I'm about 70% into the first one, and it's still so-so.

At this point, I'm expecting to be moderately entertained, but perfectly unimpressed.

>> No.2243532

>>2243466
>I have that same edition in one book. Way too big to read on the train.
I have a few hundred books on my phone and can read any of them on the train from a screen much less reflective, and not at all dependent on outside lightning. Joke's on you for still supporting the retarded paper industry.

>> No.2243536

>>2243487
i lolled because i basically think if tao lin applied himself he'd write like murakami. murakami is just derivative anyway

>> No.2243552

>>2243470

Hmm, well I can give some summaries and recommendations.

One of his earlier books that a lot of people like is Norwegian Wood, it's a rather brooding and bohemian love story. It has Murakami's dreamyness over it, but it's not as metaphysical and surreal as a lot of his other stuff but the "flow of human consciousness put into words" he always does so well, is there.

Quite a short read to get into Murakmai would be Hard-Boiled. It has a lot of charm in writing and a lot of the characters themselves, you'll get the flavor of his style, as mentioned it's pretty short, I really enjoyed it.

Wind-Bird is the magnum opus of sorts, it's a huge trilogy, and if you really want to indulge into a big read, I am sure lots of people can recommend this. It has some of my favourite Murakami stuff, from walking through the backstreet's of a residential area, to the experience of being stuck down a well, to the brutality of WWII in Asia.

Another starting place would be ah, another trilogy of sorts, but more independent books, starting with Wild Sheep and on to Dance, Dance, Dance. Sheep is really really likable, I think it still has one of my favourite Murakami sections in it, but Dance I think is stretching surreal too far, lots of it made little to no sense to me.

Kafka is a slightly more recent release and probably a favourite. It has some of my favourite characters in it, the writing roams around coming of age, talking cats, the odepus complex, Colonel Sanders and more, with ease.

>> No.2243563

>>2243468
Australia.

>> No.2243581

It's third person like, after dark. There are multiple viewpoints. Probably the most overwritten book. I have a feeling he was taking his time and enjoying himself. He already has the readership to write whatever he wants and still have it sell.

One of my least favorite Murakami books. Characters weren't as interesting. Narration wasn't as strong. Prose not as crispy delicious. The ending was....umm I've heard both good and bad things. I wasn't crazy about it but others have it said it ended well.

If you're marginally into Murakami you may not like it. If you're already a fan it's definitely worth reading. Not bad. Not great.

>> No.2243730

>>2243483
After Dark was a marked shift stylistically. I mean, I'm sure to him it's his own writing, but to a lot of readers it seemed not terribly Murkami-like.

I do like the one character's spiel on Denny's chicken salad though.

>> No.2243832

>>2243730
the ending to after dark was awesome. the paragraph with the sun coming up was one of the best he's ever written.

>> No.2243914

I think when people accuse 1Q84 of being to verbose, they misunderstood. It's very typical of its time, really. With those people protesting on Wall Street, all the 60s nostalgy everywhere from on TV shows to in fashion, that Karl Ove Knausgård guy in Norway redoing the Marcel Proust thing, Jonathan Franzen writing realistic literature and no one laughing at him -- Metamodernism, ladies and gentlemen.

As I understood 1Q84 it's not verbose, it's basically an attempt at doing one of those big Russian novels from the 18th century today. That's why it has that heavy, dragging structure with long chapters describing the characters lives in details; and when Murakami, almost as if he's like Dostoevsky being paid per page, in the third volume goes out of his way to tell the reader, if the reader doesn't know, that lettuce should never be frozen, as it loses its crispiness, and that's the whole point of lettuce -- there's nothing more to say.

But then, of course, between the 18th century and today there is postmodernism and even modernism. You can't do it completely like then. So he does try, like Tolstoy, to end on a note that tells you how to live your life, and what matters in life, but you. Can't. Just. Preach. In. Literature. In. 2010. No one will take you seriously. Hence the whole thing with the private detective to complicate the whole love-as-a-religion thing, since he had to die for them to be able to find a way to make our extremely complicated, post-industrial society make sense.

>> No.2243916

>>2243914

Because, 1Q84 is really about us. There aren't two moons, but you have no fucking idea where your breakfast comes from; and there are perhaps no private detectives that have to die for you to be allowed to love and make sense of your life, but your government is most likely helping kill people who are trying to make sense of their lives by destroying our way of making sense of our lives (like the privat detective was) down in Iraq.

So yeah, that's my take on 1Q84. Great novel. Probably my ... second- or third-most favorite of him. I like Norwegian Wood the best.

>> No.2243938

>>2243916
There aren't two moons, but you have no fucking idea where your breakfast comes from;

Hah, true. Actually i have no idea where practicall anything in my house actually comes from or how it was made

>> No.2243974

>2243470
I've read every murakami that went out in my country so I guess i can say that I'm a fan. My fav is still norwegian wood, it's different than most of his other works (which are pretty much all the same) from the rest of his books i think the wind up bird chronicle is the best one - all his fav motives and shit; I also like wild sheep chase but it's only recent and I've read it few years ago (didn't like that then). all his short stories are also great.

>> No.2245241

finished it like last week.

overall the book was so-so. didn't like how it ended.

imo most of his other books are better. still good reading experience though.

>> No.2245246

>>2243938
>>2243916

cereal comes from the cereal factory

>> No.2245263

Didn't dig the ending that much Overall, Murakami's pretty weak on endings. Even The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which was a great novel (his best, imo), had a somewhat weakish ending. Still, if you're a Murakami fan, you'll probably like this. It's tedious at times, but it's good. Just trust me.