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Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Murakami
- Thread starter BlazingDarkness
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swordfishtrombones
Member
I read the Dutch translation a few months ago. I really enjoyed it, it's definitely the most "normal" Murakami I've read so far.
Not a single talking animal!
I was a bit hesitant after 1Q84 - I liked the first book, but by the end of book 3 I was not gripped anymore. Maybe I just lost track of the story or themes... I had to force myself to keep reading and finish it. With this latest book, I wanted to keep reading to see where it led.
Killer Yakuza B
Member
Holy crap! I had no idea the translation was coming out already! I haven't even started 1Q84 yet...
Sputnik Sweetheart is (sometimes) my favorite novel, so I definitely recommend it. It's also really short and easy to get through. Other than that, Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle are fantastic. But then again, everything I've read by him is really good. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, his short story collection, has some great stories. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, his non-fiction book about running marathons, was really fun to read.
Yeah, I like Murakami.
Sputnik Sweetheart is (sometimes) my favorite novel, so I definitely recommend it. It's also really short and easy to get through. Other than that, Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle are fantastic. But then again, everything I've read by him is really good. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, his short story collection, has some great stories. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, his non-fiction book about running marathons, was really fun to read.
Yeah, I like Murakami.
Norwegian Wood or Kafka on the Shore. After Dark and Sputnik my Sweetheart if you like darker stories.
Red Blaster
Member
team after dark here
kafka on the shore sux by the way
kafka on the shore sux by the way
BlazingDarkness
Member
Almost finished my re-read of Wind-Up Bird
Still great
Still great
Nah, that hasn't been translated into Finnish yet. The publisher translating Murakami's work into Finnish is really slow (only eight have been translated so far, including Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki), so I've been intending to just get the English releases once I'm done with the ones that have been translated into Finnish.
I did enjoy Kafka a lot, and Wind Up Bird Chronicle does seem to be right up my alley so I might look into getting it next if I can find it for cheap
Only read Hardboiled Wonderland and 1Q84. Liked the former a lot, thought the latter was pretty dire tbh. I know it was supposed to be surreal and detached but the characters were like cardboard cutouts. I did like the part about the private investigator though. The other parts was a bit like reading a massively long Kafka novel without any of the humor and some shoehorned edginess
skip it tbh
Killer Yakuza B
Member
No, thanks, I'll take my chances. I'd rather see for myself wether I like it or not than take the opinion of someone I don't know anything about, no offense intended. Chances are I'll like it, and if I don't, well, it's not like it's the end of the world. There's probably a million worse things I could do than read 1Q84.
Yeah, it's my least favorite, well after 1Q84. Felt bit too melodramatic for me.
I've only read Norwegian Wood, South of the Border and Wind-Up, but yeah I liked SotB more than NW. It was also the first book of his I read so that might have something to do with it. For some reason I don't see SotB mentioned a lot in Murakami threads.
BlazingDarkness
Member
BlazingDarkness
Member
Seems to be just the Uk cover I'm afraid.
BlazingDarkness
Member
CheesecakeRecipe
Stormy Grey
Went ahead and ordered mine along with a copy of Sputnik Sweetheart after being absorbed in a good chunk of Wind-Up Bird earlier today. Both are due to arrive by Thursday, so I have a lot of work to do before then!
BlazingDarkness
Member
I still have about 20 unanswered questions about Wind-Up Bird, and that's after my re-read lol
My only disappointment of the book is that there wasn't more Creta Kano and Cinnamon, I find both of those characters fascinating, and I love how they interact/speak with Okada.
exmachina64
Banned
Fuck yes, pre-ordered. Thanks for the heads-up, OP.
That UK cover...
Where are those covers from?
That UK cover...
Where are those covers from?
BlazingDarkness
Member
Thanks!
It looks much, much nicer here than on the Amazon page
I especially like the see-through element on the front
Just wondering: does the english edition have the third part yet? Murakami added 200 pages or so later on. It feels different in tone and style, but it might answer some questions. (Dunno for sure. Read it 5 years agoand hardly rzmembet anything apart from loving every page of it)
BlazingDarkness
Member
I think those are the latest print Vintage covers (UK) those covers are the ones you currently see in places like Waterstones here. Incidentally, I was in a Waterstones the other week and they had a whole section just of Murakami stuff, all with these designed covers.
exmachina64
Banned
Nice, I like how minimalist they are.
BlazingDarkness
Member
Me too, they make my prints from a couple years back look very dated lol
Porcile
Member
Wind-up Bird is magic. The flashback on the Mongolian Steppe is one of my favourite bits of writing ever: classic Murakmai. Spoiler:
The guy being skinned alive: fucking hell,I still get the shivers!
it's been so long since i read wind-up i've forgotten nearly everything
except for that scene which is seared into my brain for eternity
i should re-read it actually. though i don't think i'll manage it in two-three days like blazingdarkness. wow.
I'd love to own a matching set of his books.
Damn, I completely forgot about this. I'm opening a tab to order as we speak.
If we're throwing out our favourite Murakami works, I think mine would have to be after the quake, A Wild Sheep Chase/Dance Dance Dance, Underground, along with The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.
I was kind of disappointed by 1Q84, as it sputtered towards the end, so I'm curious to see how this turns out.
If we're throwing out our favourite Murakami works, I think mine would have to be after the quake, A Wild Sheep Chase/Dance Dance Dance, Underground, along with The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.
I was kind of disappointed by 1Q84, as it sputtered towards the end, so I'm curious to see how this turns out.
Double dipped on this one, pre-ordered it so I could get it on my Kindle last night and grabbed the hardcover UK edition as well.
So happy to be reading a Murakami book for the first time again, it's always an interesting experience (Although count me as one of the many who 1Q84 did very little for). I hadn't really read much about this one so I went into it pretty blind and from the first couple of chapters it reminds me a lot of the more grounded style of Norwegian Wood. Which is a good thing for me, although I do appreciate his more surreal works too.
Looking forward to diving into it more later today.
So happy to be reading a Murakami book for the first time again, it's always an interesting experience (Although count me as one of the many who 1Q84 did very little for). I hadn't really read much about this one so I went into it pretty blind and from the first couple of chapters it reminds me a lot of the more grounded style of Norwegian Wood. Which is a good thing for me, although I do appreciate his more surreal works too.
Looking forward to diving into it more later today.
I actually ended up reading over half the book today. I'm on 242/386. I'll probably finish tomorrow.
The themes seem to resonate well with me at this point in my life. Murakami explores the idea of how you perceive yourself versus how your friends perceive you in some very clever ways. At least, it seems like that's what he's trying to do. Obviously I'm not done with it yet. There's a sense of darkness and mystery that lingers throughout the book too and I'm really intrigued as to how it plays into this idea.
The themes seem to resonate well with me at this point in my life. Murakami explores the idea of how you perceive yourself versus how your friends perceive you in some very clever ways. At least, it seems like that's what he's trying to do. Obviously I'm not done with it yet. There's a sense of darkness and mystery that lingers throughout the book too and I'm really intrigued as to how it plays into this idea.
BlazingDarkness
Member
My copy has arrived!
I predict I'll sit down and read it in one sitting tonight, pretty psyched
I predict I'll sit down and read it in one sitting tonight, pretty psyched
dakkumauji
Member
Well then, my copy arrived and was pleasantly surprised by the cover of it.
As shown above, it definitely looks a lot nicer in person than the mockup on Amazon's.
Hopefully I'll get around to starting this soon.
As shown above, it definitely looks a lot nicer in person than the mockup on Amazon's.
Hopefully I'll get around to starting this soon.
BlazingDarkness
Member
Gonna start my read in an hour.
Copious amounts of tea shall be drunk.
Copious amounts of tea shall be drunk.
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