A slim volume of lovely stories by one of my favorite writers. Each one deals peripherally with the Kobe earthquake, yet all the characters suffer the same feeling of loneliness, questions of self-identity, and purpose. Gems in this book: Honey Pie and Super-Frog Saves Tokyo.
This is the first novel of Murakami-sensei's that I've read, and I couldn't manage to put it down until I absolutely had to.
I was taken by the main characters in this story: the frighteningly self-reliant Kafka Tamura and the child-like Nakata, whose stories are woven together into an intricate convergence that is typical Murakami. I loved reading the way he reveals each character, their histories and habits, and what happens to them in the final chapters. I felt, however, that Murakami reached a little far in his ambition for this story, and while I was always ready to suspend all disbelief for anything this man writes, it required more than a little patience to get through this one. It doesn't detract from the simple, yet lyrical, tone of the entire novel, and if you like character studies with a dash of mystery, reading Murakami-sensei's work is one I would heartily recommend.
I was taken by the main characters in this story: the frighteningly self-reliant Kafka Tamura and the child-like Nakata, whose stories are woven together into an intricate convergence that is typical Murakami. I loved reading the way he reveals each character, their histories and habits, and what happens to them in the final chapters. I felt, however, that Murakami reached a little far in his ambition for this story, and while I was always ready to suspend all disbelief for anything this man writes, it required more than a little patience to get through this one. It doesn't detract from the simple, yet lyrical, tone of the entire novel, and if you like character studies with a dash of mystery, reading Murakami-sensei's work is one I would heartily recommend.
I loved this book. The best way I can describe it: a cross between William Gibson's Neuromancer and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. You'll have to read it yourself to see what I mean (that is, if you've read the other two books).
My only gripe about the paperback edition: it was poorly typeset. There were extra spaces where there should not have been (even on justified text, you can tell), a few typographical errors, and some bizarre registration mistakes. I learned to ignore it, but it was just a little bit irritating.
If you don't like post-modern fiction (if you can define it, go ahead, I'm not going to), don't read this book.
My only gripe about the paperback edition: it was poorly typeset. There were extra spaces where there should not have been (even on justified text, you can tell), a few typographical errors, and some bizarre registration mistakes. I learned to ignore it, but it was just a little bit irritating.
If you don't like post-modern fiction (if you can define it, go ahead, I'm not going to), don't read this book.
I wanted to like this book, and for the most part, the language is lovely. But I got bored a third of the way through, and haven't bothered to pick it up again.