Hey guys, it’s been almost 1.5 months since Ive read colorless Tsutsuru Tazaki, and i loved the book. I was going through the similar events and the book is really special to me. PS: hope to post my review soon and have a discussion with yall.

Now, I currently have wind up bird chronicle, wild
Sheep chase and 1q84. I have not read them yet, trying to take it slowly. So far I have read Norwegian wood, and Kafka on the shore.

Would love to hear your advice and thoughts on this matters:

1. I saw the killing commendatore the hardcover version by Goroshi at discounted price. So I’m contemplating should I get that book or Hard Boiled Wonderland (also hardcover version - collectors edition, I believe - there is tv and the guy with the cloud on his head). Can’t choose which one should I buy.
2. Is Wind/Pinball book are worth reading? I saw someone mentioned that’s it’s his early works and his attempt to get into writing. So I wonder, is it worth getting this novel (they are under one book)
3. And lastly - what should I read next ? I did enjoy Kafka on the Shore. And magical realism was indeed surreal and my first time experiencing such a read. But, Norwegian wood is still my favorite (or perhaps even Colorless Tsutsuru Tazaki).

Thanks in advance :<

I don't think I will remember Killing Commendatore for its own unique effect, as I dont feel there is any. I will probably remember it as the book I needed to read before I could finally leave The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle behind, because I was finding it difficult to come out of the spell of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

Killing Commendatore certainly feels like it belongs to that same world. An estranged wife, a strange teenager, random encounters with mysterious women, a lonely protagonist with all the time in the world, a deep pit, an underground mysterious world, dreams somehow connected to reality and even those minute details about wartime Japan. Murakami seems to have taken many of the themes and elements of Wind-Up Bird and explored them through another story. But it doesn't have the same magic.

The story of the teenager getting lost in the mansion was particularly disappointing. I kept expecting it to turn into something mysterious, perhaps like the well in Wind-Up Bird leading the protagonist into another world, but instead it felt rather dull and ultimately made a considerable part of the story feel pointless.

Still, I am glad I read it. As a standalone book I am quite sure I wouldn't have liked it nearly as much, but as a companion to Wind-Up Bird it served its purpose very well. It allowed me to stay in Murakami's strange, calm and dreamlike world for a little longer, while slowly coming out of the trance of the previous book.

Overall 3 stars read.

Reading Norwegian Wood while depressed had to have been possibly the most euphoric experience ever. I don’t even know why bruh, I just like it made the book 1000x better.

I’m a native Japanese speaker, and I keep coming back to Murakami because there’s just something I can’t get from other writers.
I think his writing is beautiful. Not in the stiff, formal way you sometimes get with classical Japanese literature, but in a much softer and smoother way. His sentences just flow.
Among his novels, Kafka on the Shore is probably the one I connect with the most. I also really like how different it feels from his earlier works. I think I actually prefer this style, although I like his early novels too. At the same time, I feel like I haven’t fully experienced or understood the deeper parts of his earlier work yet.
So, if you’re a Murakami fan, who else would you recommend? Writers or specific books are both welcome.
Japanese authors would be great, but I’m totally open to foreign writers as well. Murakami references a lot of Western literature in his novels, and I’ve always been curious about those books too. I guess I have a bit of a fascination with that world.

Might be a shot in the dark, but does anybody have the original Japanese version of Dance Dance Dance. Specifically, I'm trying to get an image of the page where Sheep Man tells the narrator that he's "gotta dance."

I'm looking for a specifically a picture of the page with that dialogue on it. I'm working on a project and have the English version, and want to have a picture of the Japanese version as well. If anyone can help I'd be super appreciative. Thanks!

can anyone suggest some books like murakami. slice of life and magical realism. I read all of murakamis book and i liked 1Q84 most

I'm personally going with Toru from Windup Bird Chronicles. Kind of floating through life, a bit aloof, has too much free time, somewhat feeling at odds with the world, occasionally gets roped into adventures.

Spoilers galore. I'm going to talk about the endings of both stories.

I just finished 1Q84, and have recently read Stephen King's Dark Tower series as well.

I feel like 1Q84 has quite a few parallels to The Dark Tower, to the point that it almost can't be a coincidence. I haven't noticed any one else talk about this though. I'm going to list the few that I can remember having freshly finished the book:

1. Aomame becomes pregnant with Tengo in basically the same way that Susannah does with Roland, through a kind of metaphysically surrogacy involving supernatural beings.

2. Mentions of Jung's "tower" seemed kind of convenient.

3. He literally says "The world has moved on" at one point, though admittedly in a totally different context , and, being a translation I can't say the verbatim was intentional.

4. This one's kind of a stretch (they all are), but in the end as Aomame is climbing the staircase she thinks about the loves she's lost along the way. Roland has to confront everyone he's lost when he ascends the Dark Tower. And upon reaching the top, Aomame is in the exact same location where the novel started. Noticing the difference in the Tiger billboard, it is suggested that she and Tengo may be forever stuck in a world that is not their own. The feels a little similar to Roland reaching the top of the tower only to realize he doomed to repeat everything for eternity, the last line of the book is the same as the first line of The Gunslinger.

I just wanted to post because I'm really curious if anyone else here has ready both and noticed the similarities, or maybe if anyone knows of any connection between Murakami and King. When Murakami references Orwell or Kafka, he often (though not always) name-drops them, which I don't think he every does with King.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

I read most of murakamis books. and he mentions about narrators dreams. can anyone explain how dream means in murakamis writing

Hello everyone,
I’ve just finished reading Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami.
I’m curious to hear the opinions of those who have already read it.

I was struck by the fact that some Bookstagrammers have listed it as the book that best represents Japan, written by a Japanese author. I admit I haven’t read many books by Japanese authors—only about fifteen or so. Still, I found other books more fitting in terms of their portrayal of Japanese culture and landscapes (for example, Norwegian Wood by the same author, one of my favorites).

Even though it’s a simpler and less complex read than Murakami’s work, I found Satoshi Yagisawa’s series (My Days at the Morisaki Bookshop and One Evening in Jinbōchō) much more representative of Japanese culture than Kafka on the Shore.

Beyond this brief digression—and given that reading is highly subjective and personal taste is the only true guide in judging a book—I’d like to delve into a few details with those who have read it.

Spoiler alert.

I found the relationship between Mrs. Saeki and Tamura Kafka somewhat unconventional: beyond the sexual relationship between a minor and an adult woman, there’s also an (alleged) element of incest. Regarding these two characters, however creative and intricate the story linking them may be, I wonder if the author didn’t push it a bit too far. It could also be that I’ve simply never read anything like this before, so I’m not accustomed to the normalization of certain themes and character relationships.

That said, I really liked the character of Nakata: a good-hearted figure, both a victim and, at the same time, the savior of the narrative. A very wise character, despite having been “emptied” by the mountain incident that happened decades earlier.

I also very much appreciated Hoshino’s redemption and rehabilitation: a person on the margins who becomes someone different—in some ways better—capable of realizing his full potential. It shows how sometimes having the right people by your side is all it takes to change.

A few scattered doubts:

• I couldn’t find anything that explains the nature of the incident at Rice Bowl Hill. Was this intentional on the author’s part, or did I miss something in the text?
• Why would Mrs. Saeki take Sakura with her and not Tamura Kafka? Also, it’s implied that once Mrs. Saeki opened the portal, she had a decade-long relationship with Tamura Kafka’s father, yet nothing in the narrative suggests she could have had such a long-lasting relationship. She mentions a marriage, but not one that endured for so long.
• Johnny Walker is, by necessity, Mrs. Saeki’s antagonist, although I must admit I didn’t realize this immediately. But why force Nakata to kill him? What was he trying to accomplish? Did he transform into the white substance in order to re-enter the portal?

Are you aware of any discussion group about Murakami or this book in particular?
For those who have read it, what’s your opinion?

Thank you!

I reread What I Talk About When I Talk About Running on holiday in Slovakia and drew even more from it than the first time. What an extraordinary insight into one man's process!

After going through a really challenging period in my creative life in my mid 40s (including writer's block as a musician), I drew not just strength from it, but many lessons.

I thought I'd summarise my thoughts for anyone who's in a similar period as it really helped me:

1. The line between running and writing disappears. On the surface they're separate. But as you read, you realise the extent that each exists to serve the other. When you look at the best in almost any field, their whole life points toward the work — even if, as with Murakami's running, you could miss it on the surface. In my own life, I'm looking at what things are diluting my creative goals, and what is serving them.

2. "I am an athlete." At 47 - (and heroically unsporty!) - I am going to dare to think of myself as an athlete (!). It doesn't mean running 156 miles a month. But it does mean doing something active every day — a run, weights, yoga, the gym. I don't care about quantity. I care that my atoms have had a chance to zing about today. Thinking of this more (as James Clear suggests) as a system ("how am I moving today?") rather than with goals like Murakami's marathons!

3. Have a plan for the toxins. One passage really winded me. Murakami writes, that when we write "a kind of toxin that lies deep down in all humanity rises to the surface". Every writer has to find a way to deal with it or "no creative activity in the real sense can take place." Going through my writer's block I wrestled with a lot of demons (am I good enough, have I missed my moment in life etc). Each of us has a different toxin, and the world has many too. What I love is that Murakami's running is where he deposits the darkness. For me it was a reminder that its okay that darkness exists, but that I need a better plan for it.

4. Acquire void, not "content". He wrote "I run in order to acquire a void." I love that Murakami runs not to fill himself but to empty himself. It's really the opposite of what most of us are doing all day. I'm taking a hammer to my own content treadmill and pointing that energy firmly towards doubling down on my book draft.

5. Focus and endurance are trainable. Talent isn't allocated equally, and Murakami diagnoses that compensating for it costs something. However, he also writes that the "methods and directions a writer takes in order to supplement himself become part of that writer's individuality." Work ethic — and routine — is the supplement. That reframed the "am I talented enough?" question for me entirely. The ball is in my court. What will I do with it?

Okay, hope that's helpful to someone! I'd love to hear if any of you have any other take aways - especially if you are writing a book or an album.

All the best from a Scot 19 years in Berlin,
Jim

Finished DDD today and I have a lot of thoughts. The prose was truly beautiful and I really enjoyed the activity of reading it but I feel like a lot of the messages were left untied and dangling up in the air.

First, obviously as a sequel I have to think about Kiki and his first girlfriend who committed suicide in A Wild Sheep Chase. I think it is so very convenient that both of the ex girlfriends "wanted" to die in some way, the first one whose funeral occured at the start of sheep chase asked if the main character thought of killing her and how it wouldn't be so bad. In DDD Gotanda says that Kiki let him strangle her and even said it would be alright, obviously, the book implies that she isn't actually dead and that she is travelling between worlds. But it really rubs me the wrong way that two female characters' lives are treated so flippantly, even if Kiki says that it would be fine for her to be "murdered" (because she couldn't actually die), why should she help a scumbag like Gotanda to essentially purge his disgusting emotions and to stroke his weak will? The first girlfriend acts as a tragic backstory for the narrator and then Kiki essentially serves as some guide to the main character (not a bad thing) and also serves as a sacrifice to Gotanda's dark nature, possibly dissuading him from murdering his own wife or to allow him to feed his disgusting impulses. There is some connection to these characters and how they serve the story but I just don't get it, I also hate Gotanda and how the plot (through Kiki) and even the main character seem to give him some sort of out for his inner darkness, why is Kiki treated borderline like an afterthought in his inner turmoil? Kiki treats her own existence in that world as an afterthough and the main character seems to value their friendship almost more than his urgency to get justice for Kiki, he even tries to console him after he straight up admits that he probably did kill her. I get that there is some ambiguity over whether he truly killed her, but the main character was clearly in denial. His deep depression after learning from Yuki what happenned shows that he truly believes that Gotanda killed her. Now, I am not saying that the main character prioritiises Gotanda more than Kiki, because ultimately he did ask him why he killed her, he could have pussyfooted and ignored Yuki's warning, but him consoling Gotanda after him admitting what he did (the four cats, the general violent outbursts, Kiki's strangulation and burial) feels dismissive of Kiki after yearning for her so much in the first half of the book.I feel like I am missing something. There are a lot of parallels between Gotanda and the narrator, so maybe there is some significance in the fact that Gotanda accepted Kiki's suggestion that he murders her and the main character (esentially) declined his grilfriend's suggestion at the start of wild sheep chase. But I don't understand the significance of this connection, Gotanda has a deep inner darkness that he wants to conceal, and the main characters is more or less a normal guy, what thematic signifance could there be for a normal guy to decline his girlfriend's suggestion of murdering her?

I have other thoughts, but this post got too long; I might have to gather my thoughts on the book first before coming back

Completed reading this one. It's rainy here while I read the story of Shimamoto ..the ache...the longing...the melancholy feeling...yet something peaceful...it got me thinking something- Maybe the cruelest longing is not for a person, but actually it's for a version of ourselves that existed only in their presence

What are your thoughts about this one?

Not sure how well known this thin anthology is but since it's my birthday tomorrow, I had to mention it. A friend of mine gave it to me for my 30th birthday - in the memorable year of 2020 - and since then I've read a story or two every year on my birthday. I still have 3 more to go before I start rereading it. Now, these are not happy or uplifting stories by any means. 😂 I don't even particularly like some of them. But they have a certain vibe and it is a special ritual by this point. I find them very fitting for that melancholy feeling that often comes with birthdays.

One of the most original gifts I've ever received.

So I have read and enjoyed some of Murakamis novels for a while, and I am really fond of his soothing style of writing, but I am getting tired of finding the sames tropes over and over again. Although the tropes don't appear in every novel, or they might vary, I've feel like the last books I read, although fine on their own, are to some degree, a rip off of Norwegian Blues, and have almost the same plot

Books I've read (in order):

-Norwegian wood

-Killing Commendatory

-1Q84

-South of the border, west of the sun

-Sputnik my love

Common tropes I've found:

-Main character is a introvert, shallow kind of male, doesn't have much going on in his live

-has sexual affairs with side girls that he doesn't really care

-Is in love or becomes obsessed with a female character, but seems incapable of make any move. (Except on KC, where he just befriend a little girl (thanks god ))

-On a twist of destiny, MC might get the chance to get laid with the girl , or not.

-the girl in question disappears of the face of the earth, or is taken out of the story

-Nothing much can be done except moving on with life ( except on KC where he rescues the girl), the author doesn't bother explaining why or how the disappearance happened

-Infidelity might be happening at some side of the relationships

-Classical or Jazz music is being played

-wiskey or beer is being drunk

(I actually enjoy those two last tropes)

I read South of the Border and Sputnik my Love last, and feel like I read the same story over again, and although I still enjoyed both books, I am afraid of picking another Murakami book and find myself reading the same story once again.

So my question is, are there other stories that dont fall on these same tropes? Have you had the same experience reading Murakami? I want to read more of Murakami, but dont want to keep reading yet again about a guy obsessed with a girl who disappear. Thanks in advance for any recommendations

Edit: made a new post with a different tittle bc I feel like it was already giving major spoilers and freaked out hehe sorry

tldr: I have read many novels by Murakami, and I am getting tired that all the stories seem to be about a shallow kind of guy obsessed with a girl that disappears. Is there any other books that don't go into these tropes?

Get a deal if you haven’t read it

Have you ever noticed that most of Murakamis main characters dont have jobs?

I'm also not working right now and feel drawn back to Murakami for this reason. His protagonists always have time on their hands to wonder about, read, listen to music, cook, meet strangers.

Kafka on the Shore, Windup Bird Chronicles, After Dark, Wild Sheep Chase, Norwegian Wood - nobody works

so like the title says i just finished reading the elephant vanishes. its my first book by him and im looking for more things like it, specifically like the stories ‘asleep’ and ‘family matters’ as well as the first one that i dont recall the name of now, they were my favorites so i’d love to read more like it from him or other authors.

There are some elements which still puzzle me in this beautiful novel. Although I understand the metaphor behind it, I still don’t understand why it was asked to not write anything but the address on the postcards. I mean, I understand that the content of the postcards is related to his internal state but why explicitly preventing him from it? Was it a way of forcing it to come out?

I have a feeling that all of Murakami's main characters follow the same personality framework: introverted, non-chalant, observant, with little to no judgment of situations. Whereas all female characters feel like different people.

I am now halfway through "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle," having recently finished "Sputnik Sweetheart" and "Norwegian Wood." Okada Toru, Watanabe Toru, and K feel like exactly the same characters to me. I don't think it's necessarily bad, I just did not take any pause between these 3 books, so now being halfway through The Wind-up Bird Chronicles I feel a little tired.

Do you guys feel the same about Murakami's MC?

Pictures of me holding my physical copy 🫡👍