ronin74
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2007
- Posts
- 640
- Likes
- 12
Quote:
Excerpt from http://www.thejohnfox.com/bookfox/20..._murakami.html RE: Hear the Wind Sing
"The most striking absence in the story is the magical realism for which Murakami is so well known. He remains, without much genre-blurring, in the concrete real of bars and bedrooms, cars and restaurants, and doesn't step outside to mess with character's shadow selves or discover parallel universes. In fact, the only hint of something outside "realism" is when the protagonist feels his "body overflowing with some strange energy" after sleeping on the beach with the Rat. Yet this energy is never brought up again. The lack of magical realism, interlaced with a number of familiar themes, makes the novella seem simultaneously Murakami-esque and Un-Murakami."
Thank you for the recommendations.
I did not know about "Hear the Wind Sing" nor "Pinball." If I had started with "HTWS" I probably would have dropped Murakami like a hot rock.
So it is not necessary to read Murakami in succession? No continuing character development? No hanging plot threads?
Although the "Sheep Chase" has me enthralled. His writing style is refreshing yet quarky ("...I am not a whale"). I'm mid-way through and I still don't where he's going.
| Originally Posted by lumanogin /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wooo. I'm more or less a self-proclaimed Murakami aficionado. 
The first book is "Hear the Wind Sing" followed by "Pinball." "A Wild Sheep Chase" is actually the third book book in "The Trilogy of the Rat" series. Unfortunately, if you can't read Japanese, getting your hands on "Hear the Wind Sing" runs $300 on average. The only English translation is from 1987 and was a novella for Japanese students learning English. Murakami refuses to release it outside of Japan. I'd definitely recommend starting with his later and more acclaimed works like "Kafka on the Shore" or "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle." He comes into his own as a writer in either of those and they really hook you into becoming a fan of his. "The Elephant Vanishes" like Idsynchrono_24 recommends is also a good starting point to get a taste. It's a much easier read too. |
Excerpt from http://www.thejohnfox.com/bookfox/20..._murakami.html RE: Hear the Wind Sing
"The most striking absence in the story is the magical realism for which Murakami is so well known. He remains, without much genre-blurring, in the concrete real of bars and bedrooms, cars and restaurants, and doesn't step outside to mess with character's shadow selves or discover parallel universes. In fact, the only hint of something outside "realism" is when the protagonist feels his "body overflowing with some strange energy" after sleeping on the beach with the Rat. Yet this energy is never brought up again. The lack of magical realism, interlaced with a number of familiar themes, makes the novella seem simultaneously Murakami-esque and Un-Murakami."
Thank you for the recommendations.
I did not know about "Hear the Wind Sing" nor "Pinball." If I had started with "HTWS" I probably would have dropped Murakami like a hot rock.
So it is not necessary to read Murakami in succession? No continuing character development? No hanging plot threads?
Although the "Sheep Chase" has me enthralled. His writing style is refreshing yet quarky ("...I am not a whale"). I'm mid-way through and I still don't where he's going.
