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1Q84 - Haruki Murakami
- Thread starter BlazingDarkness
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Dynamite Ringo Matsuri
Member
I would honestly refer you to the book I refer all Murakami newbies to: The Elephant Vanishes. It is a great short story collection that gives you a taste of the different styles he employs. Some of Murakami's work is more grounded in reality, and some of it is really surreal and dreamlike. I'm a fan of both. My favorite book of his is Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World, though Wind Up Bird Chronicle is easily his most ambitious.artwalknoon said:
Ah, yes. I agree. That book even mentions like camera pans doesn't it? I wasn't a fan of it at all though, especially with the buildup due to the wait for it being translated. God I just came home and logged on Amazon after not seeing my book for the second day in a row and it turned out my 1 click Amazon purchase still had the address for my old apartment as the default shipping address. Now Amazon has to RESHIP the book to me. Feels bad manomgkitty said:
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri
Member
I would agree, it marries the mundane and the surreal perfectly (better than say... Dance Dance Dance which had pacing issues) and packs a hell of an ending. That ending haunted me for days.InsertNameHere said:
foomfoom415
Member
InsertNameHere said:
I would agree. I would also recommend that or A Wild Sheep Chase to start. I didn't care for Kefka on the Shore at all. It completely lost control of itself in book 2 and never became whole again. I really enjoyed most of book 1 though.
Red Blaster
Member
Hated Kafka. I'd recommend Norwegian Wood, Hard-Boiled or Sputnik Sweetheart for anyone looking to get into Murakami.
omgkitty said:
So for an update I decided to go to Barnes and Noble yesterday and just pick up a copy so I could look at them and see. I don't really trust shipping another book seeing as how it's all put together is not conducive for even touching. I walked in expecting it to be up front with the new Steve Jobs biography. Nope. I walked all around the front, starting to get annoyed I drove over there and they didn't have it. I wen't back to where the other Murakami books were (I have memorized where this section is at this point), and not only were there fewer of his books, but no 1Q84. I started to get pissed off at this point not understanding how they couldn't have it.
I finally went to the counter and asked and the lady looked at me like I was speaking in french or something. She asked me what it was called and how to spell it 3 times. Then she asked me if it was a fucking comic book. Finally she found it and said, "Oh my. No. That would be one very large comic book." No shit lady. Finally she said she had a few and walked me all the way to the back of the store, and on the bottom shelf was 3 copies.
She left and I looked them all over, none of them being perfect with the jacket being bent to a certain extent on all of the covers. I picked the best looking one and went to pay. Ended up paying $27 as opposed to the $16 from Amazon! Kind of crazy considering on B&N's website the book is listed at $16 as well. I guess it doesn't matter as I am taking my copy with the bent corner back to them tomorrow. Now some may say I am crazy for all this, but if I am paying for a "new" product of any kind, I want it to look like it just came out of the production facility, not like it was kicked around in a box.
345triangle
Member
me too, hard-boiled wonderland is pretty much my favourite book.
kindle got delivered today so i can finally start on 1Q84!
kindle got delivered today so i can finally start on 1Q84!
casablanca
Member
Orderd an English copy to my local librarian.
No news yet
No news yet
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri
Member
Segue into ultra passionate and sexually lurid scene where the two long lost lovers entwine and suck on one another's balls whilst questioning their gender or something as per Murakami. Oh, and one of you is a cat.Jenga said:
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
Hey there's nothing wrong with that! Then again, Murakami's sex scenes are one of the main reasons I have issues recommending him to some people. I told my mom to read his books before I had read one of these such scenes and then I was like WTF and told my mom never mind.
teruterubozu
Member
I'm torn. I couldn't stand "After Dark" but loved his recent short story book "Blind Willow Sleeping Woman".
Isn't that one where the two parallel world happenedClegg said:
untill you realise they are actually the same one with the same character who happend to have his life changed? I think the ending was that the guy who was the stranger finds out the reason why stuff happened in the world and decided to accept the fact
I think that is how I remember. Its vague I know :/
If I recall correctlyClegg said:
he allowed himself to continue "rendering" the End of the World, basically an elaborate simulation of an "imaginary" place in his head; thus, from his interior point of view, he remained in the walled town. However, the strain on his brain of running this simulation would be too much to bear, and like a GPU overheating his brain would eventually "melt down"... the biology isn't really clear, but I think Murakami implied a stroke; thus, the main character is committing suicide.
That's the literalist interpretation. Another way of analyzing it goes along the lines of choosing between two social orders, one of which is the "Real", and making that choice with the knowledge of inescapable consequences. This is quintessential post-modernism.
That's the literalist interpretation. Another way of analyzing it goes along the lines of choosing between two social orders, one of which is the "Real", and making that choice with the knowledge of inescapable consequences. This is quintessential post-modernism.
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri
Member
What always happensClegg said:
in love. It's been awhile but, The End of the World was his alone, since some code was initiated by the Professor, he was stuck in a comatose state. His shadow (the last vestiges of his mind) tried to encourage him to find a way out, which was the whirlpool, except the Calcutech throws away everything to be with his lover, the librarian, and is basically locked in his own mind. There was a glimmer of hope I think when he starts to sorta get a grasp on music when he finds that instrument. You're not supposed to understand music without mind. The ending really fucked with me for sure. It's funny, I sent this book to a good friend of mine, who is stuck in a really shitty place as a means to say, "get the fuck out", she made the same decision as the Calcutech and stayed in relationship that is headed nowhere and is crippling her quality of life. She didn't quite understand the ending either. Life imitating art fo'sho
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri
Member
Evlar said:
I don't believe the Calcutech will experience a stroke because the Professoe explicitly states that the world will continue on forever in reply to the Calcutech's insistence that the body and mind were finite in their existence. The professor explicitly states that the Calcutech will become immortal and remain in a parallel world.
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri
Member
It was my third book, after Wind-Up Bird, but I've been rereading it lately, alternating between The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (READ THIS BOOK PEOPLE!), as it's My favorite book ever (though Oscar Wao is giving it stiff competition). How have you been liking 1Q84? My copy is supposed to be delivered today hopefully.Evlar said:
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri
Member
Oh god no. I have friends who are like mindless drones when it comes to fandom. I will, at some point, have issues with something every artist puts out. They aren't infallible. I like GAF cause of the varying opinions, even if hivemind tendencies do crop up from time to time in regards to games lolomgkitty said:
My first Murakami was Norweigian Wood, which I read earlier this year, and I loved it. My fiancee is a huge fan of his and says most of his other books can get pretty fantastical. But NW was pretty down-to-Earth, and reminded me of Catcher in the Rye in a lot of ways. I'm really interested to get into his other more supernatural books, and this one looks pretty awesome.
Forget backlog, I've got too many books on my 'must read now' list.
Forget backlog, I've got too many books on my 'must read now' list.
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
A lot of people liked Dance Dance Dance and did not like After Dark, I'm the opposite. I loved A Wild Sheep Chase, but Dance Dance Dance is by far his worst stuff to date. Aside from that, Murakami has been overall fantastic for me.
Only other Author I can say that about is Terry Pratchett.
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
Well when I said people, I mostly meant GAF haha. I don't know anyone else who even knows of Murakami. Not even the lady in the damn bookstore yesterday knew what I was talking about. It almost makes me sad so many people miss out on his amazing books.
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri
Member
I wish I could do multi-quote on my phone :lomgkitty said:
But yeah, Murakami is not that well known. I found out about him from an anime forum I used to frequent about 7 years ago. Someone started a thread on Murakami and I was curious and picked up Norwegian Wood and Windup on the same day and went on to read everything he's written. Even my friend Jay who was the manager of a Borders, and a consumate reader and author himself was introduced to Murakami by me.
And it's funny one of you mentioned most preferring Dancex3 to After Dark, cause I'm of the same opinion. Dancex3 makes me think it's sort of like the template for the relationship between Toru Okada and May Kasahara in Wind-up. The book had pacing issues for sure, as the two main characters hardly did anything but lay in the sun and fan reminds me of The Calcutech in Hardboiled going to the laundromat and watching his clothes spin in the washer... If he did that for like 2/3 of the book lol
Carlisle - I'd recommend Sputnik Sweetheart if you dug Norwegian Wood. Except, do not read anything about it, not even the synopsis on the back cover. The book's impact will be greater if you go in completely blind. It's one of my favorites for sure, and a very unconventional romance novel
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri
Member
Honeypie is one of my favorite short stories of his. Poor Junpei! Man tears broZekes! said:
Dwight Schrute
Member
SO I'm,reaally tempted to get this...
Any opinions yet ?
Any opinions yet ?
Dynamite Ringo Matsuri said:
I think I've already told this story, but I found about Murakami from the original 'thisisnotporn.net' website. It was a puzzle based site where you'd navigate by click parts of the image and filling out a Username and Password based on clues and riddles in the image itself. One of the first websites of it's kind. For a large part of the clues quotes from Dance, Dance, Dance were used which made me interested in Murakami as an author. Being the anal retentive guy I was, I read A Wild Sheep Chase first since it's kind of before Dance, Dance, Dance.
I Loved both, but Dance Dance Dance is my favourite Murakami book after Kafka in the Shore. After Dark was just quite minimal in terms of metaphysical approach he took with his other crazy books.marrec said:
But yeah, Murakami is only few arthures who have been truly fantastic throught. Also, I am glad you mentioned Terry Pratchett sincve I have gotten my first book of him yesterday.
SpeedingUptoStop
will totally Facebook friend you! *giggle* *LOL*
Really dug Wind Up Bird Chronicles, this'll be my 2nd experience with Murakami. Book is arriving in the mail today!
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