Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/interesting/s/Ia7Ij0Xkpv

This week my bf and I watched Coraline. He pointed out how similar the details of the movie are to Murakami novels, and I was shocked at the similarities. I mean, when I introduced him to Murakami, I told him to watch out for the classic tropes (and shoutout to the Murakami bingo creator on this sub for spelling them out for everyone).

Mysterious underworld? ✅
Cat with plot significance? ✅
Curious side characters? ✅
A well that keeps the secrets? ✅

I welcome more similarities! About to dive into Hard Boiled Wonderland, my twelfth of his catalog.

In a nutshell:

The story clearly takes place in the same "universe" as one of his earliest novels Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and uses the same "walled town" as an allegory for the psyche or subconscious and oscillates between the two perspectives. The plot centers around a very typical-Murakami male going through some sort of emotional reckoning involving a long lost love, who decides to uproot his cozy life to go be a librarian in a remote town. His physical journey and his internal “dialogue” within the town illustrates how people struggle with accepting past traumas, the strange behaviors they create, and how trauma can really stay with you forever if you let it.

Thoughts:

When I read Hard Boiled I liked the non-dreamworld storyline much more so when this book began heavily focused on the dreamworld I was a bit discouraged. It didn’t help that most of part one was a bore with little to no development other than our guy had a teenage crush that “vanished”, but thankfully the story came alive in part two. The dreamworld/walled-town allegory is a creative play on how our subconscious can be trapped or walled off (depending on why u way you look at it) based on our conscious or external lives. Initially, our guy’s subconscious is still romanticizing that teenage love so much that he “follows” her to the walled town and refuses to leave until the very end, when he accepts or moves on.
I think most of the book is about grief and the many forms it can take. Mr. Koyasu’s story was the epitome of tragic, losing his child and then his wife is about an unbearable as it gets - but in his case he seems to undergo some sort of personal transformation and becomes an eccentric kilt-wearing individual. In comparison, the coffee shop owner whom our guy tries to woo has serious trauma from her divorce from her cheating husband which she turned into a physical and emotional “armor” that prevents physical intimacy. And then of course there’s our guy who’s really hung up on a long past relationship that presumably ended without closure.

For me the most Murakami-esque and also least sense-making part was the yellow submarine boy.
His powers and disappearing to the dreamworld to become the dream reader, the fusing/splitting of consciousness, etc. was tough to interpret. I felt like it complicated the relationship between our guy and his shadow by introducing a third “persona” of consciousness. Overall it was better than I expected based on some reviews on here, but still one of my least favorite novels.

I'm staying on the floor in a dojo in Japan for my first time ever going over seas. The wife of the Judo coach is an English teacher and in the room I'm staying in is some English media. I've never read Murukami but I've heard he is a scif author. I'm more of a Le Guin person and I'd want to spend time in Japan doing unique things. Dance Dance Dance is on the shelf next to some John Green I've also wanted to try reading. The big birds, big bugs, fish in streams, old men fishing, tall grass, ledges, vending machines, tunnels and suspicious bike routes really make me feel like I'm in pokemart Red and Blue

I'm so confused by 1Q84 right now. I'm very close to finishing the second book, and I tried explaining the plot to a coworker today. Halfway through, I caught myself thinking, WTH am I even reading?

Seriously, what are the Little People? They seem more like an abstract concept than actual people, but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to interpret them literally or symbolically.

And why did reading the Air Chrysalis book trigger the cult leader to want to be killed? Also, what the actual hell was that sex scene with the 17-year-old? (I want to cry)

Are these two worlds somehow colliding? Am I missing something important, or is this just Murakami? Keep in mind this is my first book from this author that I'm reading.

I'm trying really hard to like this book, and there are definitely things I find intriguing, but at this point, I'm starting to wonder whether I'm reading too much into things or whether the story is genuinely as bizarre as it seems.

Without spoilers, can someone tell me whether these questions eventually get answered? I don't want to give up on the book if things will start making more sense, but I'm also worried I'll finish it and still have no idea what I just read.

Please tell me I'm not the only one feeling this way.

Is it just me or I think the ending of Book 2 was the good ending for me? I struggle reading the first 3 chapters of Book 3, I was always thinking to myself: "Maybe it's better if we stop here?" or "What is even the point of putting the MC in this situation, what purpose does it serve to his character and narrative?"

Please tell me if it gets better if I get deeper into it.

Not my first Murakamai btw. Have read Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore, and Sputnik Sweetheart.

Hi everyone!
I recently got Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin, in the Penguin Vintage Classics edition.
I noticed that there are around 5–10 completely blank, unnumbered pages at the end of the book, after the story finishes.
Is this normal for this edition, or could it be a printing or binding issue? I just wanted to check with people who own the same edition.
Thanks! 😊

I picked up Norwegian Wood during a phase when I was extremely depressed. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, I just needed something to hold onto. I didn't expect a book to feel like it was sitting right next to me in the dark.

The quiet sadness, the way the characters carry their grief around without really knowing what to do with it, the loneliness even when people are right there. It all felt uncomfortably familiar. I'd never seen it put into words that honestly. Reading it made me feel less alone in my own head, which is something I didn't know I needed.

What surprised me most was that it didn't leave me in that place. Somewhere in between all the heaviness, it gave me a small flicker of hope, enough to make me think maybe I could give love another chance. Not in a cheesy, everything-is-fixed way. Just a quiet "maybe it's still worth trying."

After that, I went straight into Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and I completely fell in love with Murakami. The mysterious, dreamlike atmosphere he builds is unlike anything else I've read. You never fully know what's going on, and somehow that's the point. And the themes of isolation and the search for self-identity hit me really close to home. His characters are always wandering, trying to figure out who they are, and I felt that in my bones.

Has anyone else had a book show up at exactly the right (or wrong) time in their life?

Hi everyone!
I recently got Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin, in the Penguin Vintage Classics edition.
I noticed that there are around 5–10 completely blank, unnumbered pages at the end of the book, after the story finishes.
Is this normal for this edition, or could it be a printing or binding issue? I just wanted to check with people who own the same edition.
Thanks! 😊

I wanna see how other readers picture his characters. Even if you don't have a mood board, a few words can also suffice. Jus wanted to see some perspectives.

I am confused on which translation to read for hardboiled wonderland and the end of the world. The older translation is the one that made it popular but it removes lot of content . The newer one is unabridged and closer to the original but don't know how good it will be and if the new content has any significant impact on the reading experience and storyline. Which one would you suggest for a first time murakami reader ?

Second attempt, the image in the first one was way too blurry :(

S: Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore

A*: Tsukuru Tazaki, Killing Commendatore, Wind-Up Bird

A: Hard-Boiled Wonderland, After Dark

B: Sputnik Sweetheart

C: Wind/Pinball, Wild Sheep Chase

D: The City and Its Uncertain Walls (not in the pic)

Kafka is my absolute favourite Murakami novel and nothing will ever beat it. The supernatural elements are very nicely put together and make more sense in-universe than in his other novels.

Norwegian Wood is his most raw (emotionally) novel for me, love it.

Tsukuru Tazaki just made me feel so bad for the main character. Don't remember if he was explicitly stated to be on the spectrum, but his personality and thought process hit close to home.

Killing Commendatore being so high is probably unpopular, but I think the relative plotlessness worked very well for this novel.

Not much to say about the Wind-Up Bird, that book felt like a fever dream but an enjoyable one.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland is one of those books that I appreciate more than I enjoy it, if that makes sense. The chapter structure is unique and makes for a compelling narrative, and both parts of the story were equally relevant. It didn't have much of an emotional impact on me, but I still enjoyed the mystery.

After Dark is short and sweet. Not sure if I understood the plot/message, but I enjoyed how Murakami conveyed the nighttime atmosphere.

Sputnik Sweetheart felt like Norwegian Wood lite; similar themes but not as poignant. Probably won't keep this one on my shelf.

Wind and Pinball were fine. It's very clear those were his first novels. Beginnings of several stereotypical Murakami plotlines but nothing deep or specific enough. If I had to pick one of these, I'd pick Wind.

Honestly, I didn't get Wild Sheep Chase at all. It felt like Murakami's attempt at writing a detective novel, but I didn't get any mystery-solving satisfaction nor any enjoyment I get out of his other books out of it. Pinball was already not my favourite, and having not enjoyed this one, I'm hesitant to read Dance Dance Dance.

City and Its Uncertain Walls is the only Murakami novel I struggled to finish. The first half being a retelling of Hard-Boiled Wonderland was fine, albeit boring since not much was different. And then the latter half was classic Murakami fare but without any zest to it. Not sure why he felt like revisiting this after leaving it unfinished for decades.

1Q84 is extremely long, and the consensus seems to be that the final book is a disappointment. So I probably won't get to this book soon if at all. Not sure if reading just the first two books would make sense.

I am currently reading 1Q84 and this post caught my eye. I am enjoying the novel, though I liked The Wind Up Bird Chronicle more.

I find it interesting that the same formula is used to write many of his novels.

Got a fun little surprise in Kafka on the Shore - it’s got to be, right? NW was described as a brown stripy cat with a bent tail. I know it says he was skinny, but he would be if he’d been missing that long!

I'm enjoying reading Men without women and listening to the Yesterday song of the Beatles

Want to know if anyone else feels this way.

I just watched chungking express for the first time and thought it was ok. Didn’t invoke too many emotions in me. It’s inspired by murakami and during the entire movie I couldn’t stop thinking about how this film was if murakami made movies.
It’s so creepy and cringe sometimes- breaking into an apartment, romanticizing sadness.

It made me think of how cringe murakami can be with his depiction of love and sadness. My perception of his books has changed a lot over time. I used to be a huge fan but now I find his sadness overbearing. Anyone else feel that way?

Reading norwegian wood in the norwegian woods while listening to norwegian wood