HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

The Strange Library

by Haruki Murakami

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
2,1291337,442 (3.45)109
In a fantastical illustrated short novel, three people imprisoned in a nightmarish library plot their escape.
  1. 10
    The Woman in the Dunes by Kōbō Abe (CGlanovsky)
    CGlanovsky: protagonists wind-up imprisoned in surreal and somewhat absurd circumstances
  2. 00
    The Silence Room: Short Stories by Sean O'Brien (bluepiano)
    bluepiano: Eerie short stories centred on, although not taking place in, a room in a library basement.
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 109 mentions

English (124)  French (2)  Hungarian (1)  German (1)  Italian (1)  Danish (1)  Catalan (1)  Spanish (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (133)
Showing 1-5 of 124 (next | show all)
I had no idea this book would be so dark! The reason I picked this up as my first Murakami book was that it was the shortest: only 96 pages, half of them illustrations.

The Strange Library is indeed that ... strange! It is whimsical, surreal, and dark. It contains a lot of themes and symbolism that's left for the readers to analyze and interpret. The narrator is unreliable, and the ending is ambiguous.

"The sheep man has his world. I have mine. And you have yours, too...just because I don’t exist in the sheep man’s world, it doesn’t mean that I don’t exist at all."

I ended up enjoying this weird little book! It explores obedience, grief, friendship, and fear. Murakami's writing style is unique and surreal. Also, I heard that paperback and hardbound books provide a better reading experience compared to an ebook. Have you read this? Would love to hear your thoughts about it! ( )
  nadia.masood | Mar 9, 2024 |
Not nearly and complex or mind-bending as the Murakami novels I've read. Perhaps this is YA?

But with passages like

The tricky things about mazes is that you don't know if you've chosen the right path until the very end. If it turns out you were wrong, it's usually too late to go back and start again. That's the problem with mazes.

it's entirely possible it's a metaphor that I'm missing entirely.

And then there's the passage on the last page which makes me re-examine the whole thing (SPOLER ALERT! ABANDON SURPRISE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE!):

My mother died last Tuesday...I lie here by myself in the dark....how it feels to be alone....

And because of that, I wonder if there isn't more to it than it appears, in a Murakami book that it took me
( )
  deliriumshelves | Jan 14, 2024 |
This book was very strange, but I think I liked it. I've always wanted to read Murakami. ( )
  lindywilson | Jan 3, 2024 |
Rating 3.5
It turned impossible not to read this short story being a librarian and a fan of Murakami's work. Strange, beautiful and well told, as usual in author's books. I'm not sure I liked the end, maybe it was too short to me, but I enjoyed a lot of the story and I kind of fell in love with the brains-eating-librarian, I guess all librarians want to be like him at some point... Ok, perhaps just without the brains eating part... Or perhaps not. ( )
  uvejota | Jul 26, 2023 |
So very, very close to being one of my favourite books on this planet. A bizarre and immersive Alice in Wonderland adventure, dreamily done. I only wish the ending was stronger, it is a soft landing that leaves little impact. ( )
  eurydactyl | Jul 20, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 124 (next | show all)
Haruki Murakami’s “The Strange Library” is a short story, not a novel. So why, one might wonder, has it been published as a single volume?
added by dcozy | editThe Japan Times, David Cozy (Dec 27, 2014)
 

» Add other authors (1 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Haruki Murakamiprimary authorall editionscalculated
Goossen, TedTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gräfe, UrsulaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kidd, ChipDesignersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Menschik, KatIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
The library was even more hushed than usual.
Quotations
Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
La notte di luna nuova si avvicinava silenziosamente, come un delfino cieco.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

In a fantastical illustrated short novel, three people imprisoned in a nightmarish library plot their escape.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary
Japanese jazz fan
Visits Roald Dahl's writing shed
Brings along Sheep-Man. (captainfez)

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.45)
0.5
1 12
1.5 3
2 66
2.5 13
3 230
3.5 47
4 230
4.5 9
5 70

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 202,649,171 books! | Top bar: Always visible