Though it's not my first Murakami read I've had my issues picking up this book. The story os loosely based on the Oedipus myth and follows the story of Kafka Tamura as he runs away from his home in Tokyo.

I've definitely finished the book with more questions than answers, but the style and extensive metaphors paint a beautiful picture of a complex journey. The pace was perhaps a bit too slow for my taste, but at the same time it felt necessary for the plot to unfold. Even with it's gory points (Johnie walker's cat scene, the description of the white slippery blob thing Hoshino faces) and somewhat questionable sexual content, it's written in a way that doesn't normalise those things but looks at them from an objective point of view. With so many subplots it's difficult to get all the symbolism in a single round so it might benefit from a second read, which I will surely do. ( )

NA ( )

I don’t reaaaally like Murakami unless the text is especially emotionally resonant to (in? for?) me, and this one wasn’t very. But it was still an enjoyable work that kept me occupied for a few days while walking or cooking or whatever. ( )

This is a DNF for me. The writing is fine and there are some interesting ideas and quotable lines but this is not the type of book I enjoy. It was a book club selection so I'm interested to see how the rest of my book club members felt about the story.

Reading this particular edition of the book is a unique experience- the artwork and the physical production are simply extraordinary. If I had not recently read a couple of other Murakami novels I'm sure my rating would be one star higher, but the formulaic structure and recycling of so many elements of the story from other novels put me off. The wrap up was sweet, but still, the beautiful teenager in a miniskirt sexual experience, the cats, the bumping into a parallel universe are all so recycled I was quite annoyed. This edition also has an introduction by Murakami that also bugged me enormously, and I think this was not a good choice by the Folio Society. As mentioned, the artwork and printing is simply superb, but if I was them, even if I'd paid a hefty fee, I would have selected a vastly better introduction- Murakami's description of his writing style comes across as an Arnold Baffin, a character in Iris Murdoch's The Black Prince (a professional novelist who Iris paints as having no 'art'). The reusing from other novels and lack of originality just rang too true when reading Murakami's self description of writing the work, and the non-structured and pretty vacuous approach that he uses (according to him) in all his work apparently. If read apart from his other work it would likely be fine and he is of course exceptional at story telling. I had a similar experience reading too many David Mitchell novels close together, which also like the bumping into alternative worlds/magic realism. Too much. Lesson learned, leave 'em on the shelf and sample over time Peter... (in fact I just saw two David Mitchells waiting- I'll give them more time). The present book is a wonderful work of art, and so lovely I might say just read this one! Without the others it would seem unique, quirky and cool. But Norwegian Wood is so much better, what to do? I hope Folio will do an equal edition of Norwegian Wood (with a vastly better introduction)- then the decision would be easy. ( )