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Haruki Murakami

Name: tksh 2004-12-27 0:26

A few years ago, someone on IRC discovered Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami and went around recommending everyone in the channel to it.  I made note to download an ebook version of it but gave up after a while.

This summer while I was in HK, I was browsing in a book store and came across a rather odd titled book.  It was called "Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World."  Read a few pages into it convinced me to get the book and after finishing it, I bought book from the same author, Haruki Murakami.

Eventualy, as I was searching for more books by him, I came across Norwegian Wood again and bought it instantly (actually, I buy all Murakami books I encoutner instantly now).  A bit over the top but quite enjoyable.  He has a bit of lofty way of storytelling and makes otherwise boring situations interesting.  Especially his dialogue, they're odd but never stagnant.

I'm a pretty big fan of Murakami now but just wondering, of the more Japanese culture-influenced 4chan population, has anyone else heard or read of this books?  What do you think of him?

Name: Anonymous 2004-12-28 20:20

Nice response we've got here.  Never heard of Camus though.

I kept making comparisons to Haibane when reading Hardboiled Wonderland too.  I really wonder how much influence, if any, it had on Haibane.  It's still my favourite of all his books though, maybe it's because the idea of a wonderland seems so nice.  Or the way he describes that pudgy, rori gal.

Though, in all of the books I've read of his, all his protagonists seem to be the same.  Indifferenet towards the flow of the fast paced society he lives in but just participating enough to get by.  An affinity towards good food and alcohol and instability in relationships with women.  As well as the whole strong independent streak they all share.

http://www.murakami.ch/hm/bibliography/main.html lists pretty much all his books that have been translated into English.  I've also heard that the non-Rubin version of Norwegian Wood is better and that the original has two or three lines for everyone in either of the English translations.  There's another Murakami, Ryu Murakami that seems to be as eccentric as Haruki.    I've never been able to find any of his books at the bookstore though.

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