Anthracks: Haruki Murakami Fictions Ranked

Anthracks 08.29.18	albums is music from the books for the most part
tom79 08.29.18	The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was so good. I need to read more Murakami.
Voivod 08.29.18	Thoroughly enjoyed "Norwegian Wood" and "After The Quake"
Sinternet 08.29.18	hey voivod those are my two faves as well kafka is top 3 though
loulou 08.30.18	I've only read Kafka on the shore and 1Q84 and through they have a lot in common I prefer 1Q84(maybe because I read it first)
Calc 08.30.18	I'm looking forward to commentadore too!
Anthracks 08.30.18	1q84 is awesome but needed further editing because there was a lot of repetition in the prose. but overall was awesome despite being too long I can't wait for commendatore. ~400+ page murakami has never disappointed me. it's his second-longest
heyadam 08.30.18	Dance Dance Dance is weirdly my number one haha. STOKED for the new novel.
Anthracks 08.30.18	Norwegian wood is the most un-murakami murakami novel. colorless is imo the best of his shorter "human" novels and by far the most emotionally affecting. NW is sad, but it's pretty heavy-handed and forced (and teen angsty) a lot of the time
Anthracks 08.30.18	I can feel that at DDD. there's something special about it that's really hard to place because nothing about it is particularly stronger than his other books
thecheatisnotdead 08.30.18	Working my way through Men Without Women currently, really liking it so far. Also have a used hardback copy of IQ84 collecting dust on my shelf, which I intend to crack into as soon as I've built up the requisite arm strength.
zaruyache 08.30.18	i've read 1Q84 and Hard-Boiled. I think his writing style's (or the translated version, at least) is really nice, but despite being kinda goofy neither book really grabbed me. 1Q84 was a cute romantic fantasy that I didn't mind sitting through for like 1500 pages, but idk if I'd want to read it again.
Winesburgohio 08.30.18	Wind-Up Bird Chronicles is his best -- and might be the best novel published in the last thirty years -- but i love the Rat Quartet, pinball and wind included! If you can track down the original translations of the latter two they're so much crisper and wittier than the hatchet cash-grab job done by the latest guy. i know it's fashionable to hate on him now but i have no idea why, such a wondrous and beguiling author with one hell of an ouevre. started killing commentadore last night and it's great to have him in first person again. similar vibes to what he was going for in men without women so far
Anthracks 08.30.18	one of his translators is noticeably weaker than the other(s). i'll have to look into original translations for his first two novels because they were underwhelming, especially being an akutagawa prize winner
Winesburgohio 08.30.18	also tho TWUB is my favourite, Dance Dance Dance is the one i've read the most and always return to. it's so comfortable and also incidentally Murakami's favourite of his works iirc
Papa Universe 08.30.18	just quickly commenting to say that this list is quality and Murakami is great
heyadam 08.31.18	Yeah I wasn’t so crazy about Men Without Women myself. Still so stoked for the new novel. I started re-reading 1Q84 to hold me over but I got super busy lol
Winesburgohio 08.31.18	idk i nabbed a press copy 8) -- if it's any consolation it reminds me most of (in mood) my favourite of the kinda lacklustre bunch, the one where the athletic dude breaks up with his wife and starts a bar. i haven't really LOVED anything he's released this side of 2000 but i am really, really enjoying this.
Anthracks 09.01.18	short story murakami has literally never been in the same league as longform murakami
Anthracks 10.15.18	I just finished Killing Commendatore. I would put it around #11 on here. My least favorite of his long-form works.
Sevengill 10.15.18	Colorless Tsukuru was a huge chore to get through, but I had to read it for school so maybe I need to give it another try on my own terms.
heyadam 10.15.18	Picking up Killing Commendatore tomorrow!
Winesburgohio 10.15.18	i quite liked it!!! but my god i wish they would pick another translator
Zig 10.15.18	I prefer Ryu.
Sinternet 10.15.18	ryu is also great piercing is in my top 5 books of all time
Anthracks 10.15.18	colorless is a book that you have to have had a certain set of life experiences occur to fully enjoy... for me it was the right book at the right time. Philip Gabriel is definitely not an terrifically exciting translator. I wonder why jay rubin didn't work on this one. ryu is fun but by no means a literary master, but "ryu is better" is like the edgy thing to say whenever Haruki is brought up these days so w.e. not even same genre writers
Anthracks 10.15.18	you're not going to like it. there are almost no new elements in the book. it's almost all stuff that has happened in a murakami novel before. this protagonist was way way way less affected by the wife leaving him than in his other novels though so it's not entirely the same.
zaruyache 10.15.18	I didn't love Hard-Boiled all that much. It felt like it was true my to be Vonnegut-style weird but didn't pull it off too well. 1q84 was a cute read tho.
Anthracks 10.15.18	all 3, xeno
DadKungFu 10.16.18	If I'm just getting into Murakami should I start with Kafka on the Shore or the Windup Bird Chronicle?
Anthracks 10.16.18	either is fine. kafka on the shore was my first and is still my favorite. I also feel like it's the most unique of all his books. kafka is definitely more abstract and adventurous, whereas windup bird is pretty dark and srs
Winesburgohio 11.11.18	i still want to believe he's being translated wrong because The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles is so crystalline and the flat affect hides some lyrical prose that you miss the first go around and i just can't reconcile that with some of the clumsier passages in his recent fiction. i liked Killing Commendatore well enough but man give me the excised bits of TWUBC and cut about 66 percent of all his other long novels tbh. extremely done with the new-found fascination for breasts too
Faraudo 11.11.18	I've been wanting to read After Dark, is it good?
Winesburgohio 11.11.18	opinions differ: i was unmoved but it's my brothers favourite. it's short enough that you won't be wasting your time either way tho!!!
heyadam 11.12.18	Yeah I actually really enjoyed 1Q84. I’m gonna save reading KC for my break from work around Christmas, bummed to hear people hating it
brainmelter 01.12.19	I’ve only read 2, I’ll definitely put 1 on my to-read list
ReturnToRock 06.15.20	Read 1 and 7. Could not get on with his writing (or was it the translations?) at all.
dedex 06.15.20	Kafka @ #1 is realest take ever
JohnnyoftheWell 06.15.20	Kafka is the #1est #1 that ever there was Hard-Boiled is way too high though, especially not a fan of that being above WSC or Dance Dance Dance. Would probs rank 1Q84 higher too
Piglet 06.15.20	DEYR ORL SHITE
Anthracks 06.15.20	Hard boiled is awesome. He out-vonnegutted vonnegut
wildinferno2010 06.15.20	I gotta finish Kafka, was enjoying it loads. My fave right now's probably A Wild Sheep Chase, and Tsukuru Tazaki was good too. Don't get the hype around Wind Up Bird, though.
JohnnyoftheWell 06.15.20	Hard-Boiled has by far the least interesting characters of anything I've read by him, which made the intricate worldbuilding feel a little moot. Got Wind-UP Bird on my shelf as the last of the 'main' ones, then gonna pick through Sputnik and Tsukuru for some realism sadtimes
Anthracks 06.15.20	I really appreciate tsukuru and am always heartbroken when I see how much in general people didn't like it
Mythodea 06.15.20	Tsukuru deals with a strong modern taboo: caring for others and caring for yourself are not different things. Without boundaries, you help no-one. It's still not my favourite of his though, even if I liked the five-piece's stories. Kafka on the Shore... Oooohh boyyy... That moment when Kafka's dialogue with that woman turns to the reader, it took me so much by surprise, I... I... wait, there's something in my eye... 1Q84 was great but I'd like more political commentary. Still had a blast reading it. Both South of... and Sputnik my Dear are strong examples of how good he is with short novelas. And this takes me to his magnum opus, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. My bachelor thesis was about this book. Have read it three times and each and every time, I feel like the world is tilting.
Anthracks 06.15.20	1q84 is awesome and the only novel of his with a true ending
JohnnyoftheWell 06.15.20	Kafka kinda has a true ending, but yeah not the same ballpark of Ending
Anthracks 06.15.20	anyone know what he's been working on?
JohnnyoftheWell 06.15.20	he's been running a radio show lately and had that extended interview with mieko kawakami, but not sure beyond that
Mythodea 06.15.20	wait, Wind-Up Bird also had a real ending. Everything in its right place. No particular ambiguities. Btw, both Sputnik and South have terrifying endings (and terrific). Has anyone read Commendatore to give us an opinion? (no spoilers ofc)
kalkwiese 06.15.20	1Q84 is on my list. Is this author good or is he just popular?
JohnnyoftheWell 06.15.20	he's good. most critiques on him come from a very valid place (esp. as far as female characters are concerned), but he's easily got enough going that this doesn't ruin the party also don't start with 1q84 lol, Wild Sheep Chase is a much easier way in (even if you just read the first 30 pages and save the rest for later) - sets out his tropes in all their positive and negative qualities
Anthracks 06.15.20	technically speaking he's not a prose virtuoso like a Nabokov or a wordsmith like a Faulkner or anything, but he has in my opinion his own unique variety of writing and remains near the top of my all-time favorites
Mythodea 06.15.20	What ^those people said. Murakami's appeal stems from his excellent control on bizarre situations and the great realizations his heroes have at turning points of their lives. I'm not sure I agree 100% on the women's issue, though.
wildinferno2010 06.15.20	"Wind-Up Bird also had a real ending. Everything in its right place. No particular ambiguities." I guess you'd know. I reckon you'd need to write a thesis to understand it, tho
Mythodea 06.15.20	haha, yeah, ok, touche
kalkwiese 06.15.20	I just remembered I read The Strange Library earlier this year. That was cool.
wildinferno2010 06.15.20	This might be a weird question, but I wouldn't be able to read that thesis anywhere, would I?
Mythodea 06.15.20	Unfortunately no, mostly because it's in Greek. I'm not very sure if you're into criminology and postmodernism either, because the thesis tries to draw comparisons in viewpoints.
wildinferno2010 06.15.20	Shame, sounds really interesting. I'm mildly interested in both topics, studied a lit unit on modernism/postmodernism and it was a fun time.
Mythodea 06.15.20	Yes, I learned so many things writing that subject. However, I also remember how much I strived to finish it on time, because there were just soooooo many things I had to read and study to be sure I understand them. Anyway, if I ever translate it, I might upload it somewhere. Be sure I'll give you a heads up.
kalkwiese 02.06.21	I should have listened to you, Johnny. I finished 1Q84 and it had its moments, but overall it just wasn't very good imo. It was like it went nowhere with the cool stuff and expanded on the lame stuff (insta love and that stuff I don't really care about). It was enjoyable though and had some interesting episodes. I want to read another Murakami in the future, but I'll make sure it's something that people call one of his best. And I agree with the women's issue on 1Q84. It was always sexual to a degree, but you can see how sexuality was handled differently with male and female characters. It wasn't offensively bad, but some moments were just very weird because of it lol. Like Johnny said, it didn't ruin the party though.
Mythodea 02.06.21	Check out Kafka on the Shore for extreme weirdness, and Wind-up Bird Chronicles for a medium weirdness.
heyadam 02.07.21	almost finished my reread of Wind Up - it’s honestly still so good. I think Dance Dance Dance might still be my fav from him tho
porcupinetheater 02.07.21	Wind-Up Bird is probably 1 for me One of the few authors that grows off me the more I read from him, feels like a lot of variations on a theme in a way that diminishes the returns. Also can't write women to save his life lol
Pheromone 02.07.21	> one of the few authors that grows off me the more I read from him the wes anderson of authors
heyadam 02.07.21	He definitely writes in a single lane, but when you wanna read that line there’s almost no one better. And yeah, his women aren’t the best, but Aomame and the Sputnik Sweetheart pair were great characters. They’re the exception to the rule for sure lol
Mythodea 02.08.21	@Heyadam Aomame was in Norwegian Wood? That was a great read
ResidentNihilist 02.08.21	Murakami's great
heyadam 02.08.21	Nah aomame was 1Q84 - it’s honestly been forever since I read Norwegian Wood
porcupinetheater 02.08.21	Aomame's IQ84. Haven't read that one, got to a point where I had to walk away even from his slimmer stuff, 1,000 Murakami pages sounds daunting lol
porcupinetheater 02.08.21	heyadam, quickest Sput type in the West!
heyadam 02.08.21	had that shit locked and loaded bruhhh
porcupinetheater 02.08.21	http://waltermetz.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/15-buster-discovers-hes-been-shot-through-the-forehead.png
DePlazz 02.08.21	I've read 1, 2, 5 and 10 + his novel/essay on running Hard agree on 1 & 2, both are completely and outerworldly nuts. 5 is beautiful as well.
DePlazz 02.08.21	"Also can't write women to save his life lol" That is true, he's a very male oriented author
Mythodea 02.08.21	Well, he's inspired by Hemingway after all!
Anthracks 02.11.21	Okay let’s not act like his male characters are more developed than the females, lol. His surrealism applies to his characters too and most characters are just a wish fulfillment or a concept
porcupinetheater 02.11.21	His men are aimless and existential, his women are empty vessels for plot mechanics/sex (For the most part). There's a difference, even if it's just who he consistently chooses to represent via internal monologue
JohnnyoftheWell 02.11.21	his men almost uniformly have more psychological depth and credible first-person perspectives. even if you view his entire roster as zero-agency surrealist puppets, it's the male characters that carry the most significance and focalise the most wider themes, and even when a female character like Aomame bucks the trend, chances her Murakami will ruin everything by having sexualising 90% of her female relationships and having her constantly obsess over her relative boob sizes good female murakami characters: Yuki (DDD), Mari (After Hours), (maybe) Reiko (NW), (very maybe) Nutmeg (Bird Chron)
porcupinetheater 02.11.21	For real, can count 'em all on Tony Iommi's fretting hand (Nutmeg don't count she's pretty much a domineeringly amorphous Freudian horny business Mom)
JohnnyoftheWell 02.11.21	this is true but she has a deeplore backstory with occasional emotions so credit where it's due etc
porcupinetheater 02.11.21	Lol fair play, not coming from a place of un-bias and fair, good faith argument cause them straight boy writer's clubs that don't engage with women and get massive critical acclaim for it just get right under my skin it's time to update the fucking canon m/
Mythodea 02.11.21	Women characters are driving forces, mystifiers and informers. I think there's a distinction between being male and female in Murakami's work, but I feel like there's a multitude of roles in being a woman, while men are either wet planks where women write on, or [i]the baddies[/i] and that's more black or white. Women can be strong, weak, funny, pretentious, clingy, sinister, naiv, smart, responsible, hurt, survivors. I feel like in that sense, women get to experience more than men in his writings. Men are passive. In Bird-Chron women experience everything and women do anything, while the protagonist sits and listens. Same for Sputnik Sweetheart. Same for Colorless... and Norwegian Wood. Women know more, because they've been through more. It feels like Murakami's heroes are always the ones too late into a joke, while the women not only were there first, but the joek was on them, too. Murakami can seem like the epitomy of the person who discovers there exists a world outside his bedroom.
porcupinetheater 02.11.21	But they still exist as cyphers, as opposed to characters who are ever given to behaving like humans or having any sort of underlying psychology beyond doing what they need to do and saying what they need to say to stand in front Murakami's men's lascivious gaze and Murakami's lascivious pen. Going to touch on Wind Up Bird, cause that one in particular was infuriating to read through a lot of points. It treats a woman's rape as a sexual awakening while the protag slobbers over protracted borderline-pornographic depictions of the sister telling the story, for the survivor to then come around as some sort of psychic prostitute to jerk him off with her mind until it's time switch gears and bring Nutmeg into the story instead. (And also to provide psychological depth and explanation to the rapist that is never afforded the survivor outside of "rape opened up my sexuality." Puke). Be given things to do in a story isn't the same as affording them the distinction of psychological development or understanding, especially writing so many of them as quasi-omniscent mother-sex gods or hypersexed/intangible teenagers drifting through this nether world to meet these schlub protagonists and give them something/someone to do. It's just not the sort of worldview I have any interest in trying to parse anymore, no criticism to you for feeling differently! I know you're coming out this with myriad theses in tow! This literary approach just does nothing for me, and it's frustrating that so many male centric works that push women out of the realm of the human are so widely accepted as of literary significance when by contrast there's so few female voices in the same high-lit circles. Just tired of years and years of English education so uniformly sidelining women's voices after Wuthering Heights and maybe a Jane Austen or two in primary. Gets my goat. Murakami's definitely a strong writer, and I'm glad you do appreciate what he does provide in his works
Mythodea 02.11.21	Okay, at least you support your frustration with apparent knowledge and love for writing, that I can't refuse you have some strong arguments. Indeed, that's not the way I see Murakami's work. Especially Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which I chose for my thesis. In there, I felt like female sexuality was in the forefront and body was the bearer of signifiers. Female body is a body at pain since birth. It's loaded with chains - no matter who you are, a chinese villager raped by Japanese soldiers, a bourgeois woman forced to decide between motherhood or career, a suburban teenager discovering sexuality or a prostitute exploited by the mafia - if you're a woman, your body suffers. What was Murakami's intent, I think, was to show what the male attitude could be, if a man wants to help and be supportive. SPOILER ALERT It's a woman who kills the main antagonist, not a man-hero saving his weak girlfriend. And I don't see Creta's rape as a ''sexual awakening'', but more like a conscious awakening.. When something that ought to be sexual, was the ultimate value of objectification, Creta realized that numbness wasn't a solution for pain. She became a sex-worker on her own terms, and realizing the objectification was important to her. It gave meaning to a meaningless pain. END OF SPOILER. But I can only agree with you, and that's the way I opted for my thesis to end. Murakami is not a woman, more less a woman who has been through rape. In that sense, he can only depict a male protagonist realizing the powers that stomp on female sexuality and body. Toru was merely a witness for what's happening between women and the [POEWER], until they become sovereing through killing said [POWER]. That's it, there's no further.
BaselineOOO 02.11.21	I love Japan but I think this writer is the very worst thing about Japan. Sorry. He and Takashi Miike, talentless hack. Kafka on the Shore is my favorite book of his tho.
kalkwiese 02.11.21	@Mythodea: Thanks for the spoiler alert. This discussion is very interesting, but have read like one big book and a short story by him. "I love Japan but I think this writer is the very worst thing about Japan. Sorry. He and Takashi Miike, talentless hack. Kafka on the Shore is my favorite book of his tho." lmao lol
JohnnyoftheWell 02.11.21	spoilers "It's a woman who kills the main antagonist, not a man-hero saving his weak girlfriend i think the main antagonist symbolically dies at the hands of the protag, and at the very least the protag is responsible for neutralising his power and has the main victory. i would not describe Kumiko's subsequent arc as attaining anything close to sovereignty; she compensates for the influence her brother has on her life on her own terms, but is punished for it by society and has little left to herself on the other side of her jail term beyond the confines of milquetoast family life with our main boi - who, if the novel has taught us anything, is ultimately inadequate, though well-intentioned as a husband. it's also worth noting that she explicitly states that she wouldn't have been able to preserve any form of self-identity throughout the novel's interim period if it hadn't been for him. agreed with almost everything in porc's comment, with the reservations that 1) "And I don't see Creta's rape as a ''sexual awakening'', but more like a conscious awakening" this is more accurate, though still problematic to unpick 2) while it's not something i'd ever brush aside (or feel able to, given how prominent it is), i don't think the women issue is the be all and end all for Murakami. there's still a lot of value in many of the observations made by his dithering protagonists and the blurred process of his world building; his construction of female characters definitely deserves to be criticised more widely and is key to any worthwhile reading of him, but i would never write him off entirely on that account has anyone read his interview with Mieko Kawakami on this topic (and can we talk more about her plz)?
Mythodea 02.11.21	@Johnny You're not wrong about any of this. It's just that in the abstracness of magical realism, it's difficult to unpick anything. What Murakami set out to do is leave impressions, not lessons. I think he's successful at that. I haven't read the interview, though, so that might be interesting to see.
JohnnyoftheWell 02.11.21	https://lithub.com/a-feminist-critique-of-murakami-novels-with-murakami-himself/?fbclid=IwAR3AJjtW3Ib45rK3bnlSd8E1tAaUdPdmQfIysJU5WJQF9VR_2loFHwN5aD0 here it is! diplomatic queen, all respect to her for the way she handled her platform here (+ I could not imagine a more stereotypically japanese 'grilling' lmao)
heyadam 02.11.21	I just finished reading her novel Breasts and Eggs and it was immaculate - she’s insanely talented
Mythodea 02.11.21	@JohnnyoftheWell This seems like a great opening to new writers! I haven't read KC yet, so I'm postponing the reading until I do that first
porcupinetheater 02.12.21	Wow just saw the link there, Johnny, thanks for sharing. Forgot about Sleep, read Elephant Vanishes before anything else by Murakami and didn't have the sort of resentment at the time, so it didn't immediately jump out as unusual, but it definitely does more to complicate things than anything else I've read. Also struck by how (and this isn't quite the right word, but I'm not landing on a better one at the moment) unthoughtful Murakami seems to be in his approach, to the extent that he's politely hostile to thoughts about fictional art as something that may still have ethical concerns. "I think that any pattern is probably coincidental." Like right after the quote it looks like he might be starting to move towards examining the role that bias might play, but then reverts to basically non-answering with how his writing his rooted in feeling and experience - pretty much circling right back to the same quote, and never exploring what might influence that feeling. And Kawakami gives him a few very gentle chances to introspect about it that he doesn't follow. Likewise, her point that women often fill a very specific role in his stories in a consistent and patterned way he dismisses just as quickly without engaging, with a sort of "well, I write all my characters distinct, while also sidestepping saying that none of his characters are that complex (again not touching on the issue of whether or not this is still psychological exploration and narrative engagement with the lack of complexity which usually follows the equation chicks=no, dicks=yes (how resolutely all of his responses treat heteronormative relationships as a universal default also feels pretty telling, but that's probably colored in by all my gender/sexuality weirdness I got going so w/e).
porcupinetheater 02.12.21	And wow, the introductory talk about Mariye in Killing Commendatore (never read that one, so just going off what's in the interview) and having this superficial explanation for why it engenders more depth - viewed through the male first person - of sexualizing a preteen (by claiming it's desexualized??) and having no awareness of how women are conditioned to have to speak to men for basic safety and existential reasons that men don't have to engage with, and Murakami certainly screams a total disinterest in engaging. Which, I guess what else to expect from somebody's who's dancing with 70 by this interview and got successful on his habits? Certainly can't make those habits die any easier. But I'm definitely off the Murakami train after that, incredibly enlightening, and wish he engaged more directly with the points Kawakami was bringing up in a lot of places, because she was offering a far more understanding forum than feels warranted sometimes (not that I know shit about Japanese grillings lmao). Thank you so much for sharing, again, Johnny, just wow. Need to check out some of her stuff. Have y'all read The Vegetarian by Han Kang, by the way? Obviously Korean rather than Japanese, but read that recently and it feels in a lot of ways like if a Murakami-written woman was approached from a feminist perspective and engaged with through the awareness of misogynist social structures and behavior. Not that it's in any way written in response to Murakami, and I don't want to diminish it by shoehorning it into that framework. Great fucking book
Sinternet 02.12.21	i was so pissed when i joined sput that somebody had already taken the name sputnik sweetheart lol
porcupinetheater 02.12.21	I mean you still bailed on the idea before you massaged it into SputnikSweatheat, and that one's on you, Sint
kalkwiese 02.12.21	I definitely got more sensitive to all this stuff since my last relationship with a partner that later came out as a trans man to me. It was a weird time, but I learned a lot. So, yea, I feel you, porc. I guess stuff like that easier to swallow for a straight, cis guy like me. But even I feel like something is wrong when Aomame thinks about her friends who are dead and gone and with them their beautiful boobs LOL. Like, it's in the same breath. Is that really how grief works?!
Mythodea 02.12.21	I guess you are all correct on your observations. Besides, it's only recently (i.e. a few years) that I've consistently been engaged with such themes, but not in literature. I admit I view Murakami in a very biased way, and I admit that I am another cis male trying to understand themes as another cis male talks about them, and that of course leaves space for error! I am afraid that once I distance myself a bit from his work and return after exploring all the other writers who talk about their identity, I'll realize things that good will doesn't let me see.
Anthracks 02.13.21	I’m not following - we don’t like Murakami’s female characters because they aren’t feminists?
porcupinetheater 02.13.21	No, because they aren’t people
Pheromone 02.13.21	I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me
Egarran 02.13.21	Impressive list. What's that story where he falls in love with a woman because of her ears? I read that many moons ago and decided to go back to horror sci fi.
Shuyin 02.14.21	Hardboiled was always my favourite with Kafka as a close second, fantastic books
Anthracks 02.14.21	Okay - sounds reasonable. I’ve definitely met people with equal or lesser depth than a Murakami female, however. But it’s cool if you expect more of people.
heyadam 02.14.21	def read Kawakami’s works if you can find them translated! she’s great and I know at least one novel is translated. Her critiques are born out of a love for his writing, and really are important convo pieces when talking about murakami. I mean, I think he’s my fav author but he def has flaws that need to be talked about
porcupinetheater 02.14.21	Yeah, he captures the psychedelic pathways of a train of thought better than just about anyone, so much respect for his prose in all fairness. And Anthracks, not as like a holier than thou whatever comment, genuinely - do you see most of his women as not just repeats of the same empty oracle/sex vessel template, and/or hyper fixated on their boobs in a way that just screams written by a man? Not like as a one-off, but almost uniformly across his work (with like maybe 2-3 exceptions)?
Pheromone 02.14.21	I would agree, if not for the fact that for every male character i describe in prose myself, I spend at least a couple sentences describing the shape of their nipples. Oft-supple
porcupinetheater 02.14.21	"Phero typed, and retyped, correcting his errors, as his strong hand traced tighter and tighter circles around his own honking bazoongas. 'I wonder what these will look like when I'm 80?' he pondered. 'Will they be deflated of their youthful vigor, or fondled by worms where my fingers right now rest?' He hit enter."
Pheromone 02.14.21	"He then pondered communism. How can we live in a system where we receive which we need, in equal volume? My bra size is at least twice the size as Jennifer's, he thought. He slept on that thought."
Pheromone 02.14.21	I like Murakami but id never rec him out anymore
porcupinetheater 02.14.21	LMAO "Hey Murakami! How are you doing?" "Well."
Mythodea 02.14.21	What would you do in my position? Well...
Pheromone 02.14.21	lmao
Egarran 02.14.21	"His gaze was fluttering around the train cabin like a butterfly. It landed with a faint whisper on phero's penis."
CugnoBrasso 02.14.21	I'm reading Kafka on the Shore right now. I'm roughly halfway through and it's far less nonsensical than some people make it out to be.
JohnnyoftheWell 02.14.21	the last 100ish pages of Kafka are the real headache territory, but yeah never found it ~that wayward whenever shit gets fraught, you just think of Oedipus and everything is ok
Pheromone 02.14.21	> whenever shit gets fraught, you just think of Oedipus and everything is ok oh man, my life philosophy
zakalwe 02.14.21	Pffft wanker alert
Pheromone 02.14.21	hey man, i just wanna kill my dad n bone my mum (...or mauybe if you cant vibe w that then i guess our friendship is over
JefferyPigglestein 02.14.21	Overrated pseudo literature for kissless weebs who fetishize Asian women Read Rushdie instead
kalkwiese 02.14.21	Actually both guys are on my list in some way.
Mythodea 02.14.21	@Pheromone, Yeah that's abnormal, dude, check yourself. I mean, I wouldn't bone your mom... Rushdie is good, yeah, Satanic Verses was a pain in the ass to finish, but was cool. Now, he has his flaws too, I guess.
CugnoBrasso 02.14.21	Has anybody read "One hundred years of solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez?
Pheromone 02.14.21	@mytho lmao > : (
kalkwiese 02.14.21	I am currently reading One Hundred Years of Solitude I am also a great admirer of Günter Grass
porcupinetheater 02.14.21	One Hundred Years of Solitude 😍😍 Any of y’all read any Carmen Maria Machado or Edwige Danticat? Been grooving in the book club
Mythodea 02.15.21	Yes, 100 years of Solitude was a goat book. Impressed by any little detail in it, and it really made me see the influences it had on The House of Spirits. Still, one of the best reads and a chilling ending line
CugnoBrasso 02.15.21	I just bought it on Amazon, it should arrive on friday. In the meantime, I'm appreciating the fact that the KFC guy is a character in KotS!
porcupinetheater 02.15.21	Hey Cugno Haruki Murakami fits perfectly into the middle line of a haiku. Use this for good.
CugnoBrasso 02.15.21	Alas, Hoshino, get rid of your emptiness, I'm rooting for you.
BookoftheFallen 02.15.21	I tried reading hard boiled but couldn’t even get past the long description of how the main character likes fat women.
CugnoBrasso 02.15.21	Yeah his descriptions get pretty verbose at times... I remember when he talked about warm, wet vaginas at length in Norwegian Wood, and to me it sounded like he was talking about freshly-baked brownies instead of human genitalia.
BookoftheFallen 02.15.21	norwegian wood was another one that i couldnt get through. the main character had sex with pretty much every girl he met at college. it was like a mans fantasy of what college is like and not realistic. I loved 1Q84 and wind up bird though.
kalkwiese 02.15.21	I get the idea behind 1Q84, but imo it was ... disappointing. What did you like about it?
BookoftheFallen 02.15.21	the main character of 1q84 was really relatable for me (except for the part where he has sex with his exstudents).
kalkwiese 02.15.21	Mh, I can see that. I found Tengo to be quite relatable as well. SPOILER And the concept of him and Aomame being very separated in the beginning and slowly coming closer and closer to each other was actually quite clever. Like, the other person wasn even hinted for the first few hundered pages. Then they were hinted. Then, after many more pages their names were dropped. Then they got physically closer. And in the end they met and left that strange world. I can see what he did there. But everything else that the book promised it would be (like that cult or the terror the little people could have done) just didn't happen. That's what disappointed me. In the end its an insta love romance novel and both main characters barely know each other. That's not my thing lol. SPOILER END. And it took 1600 pages for me to realise the true nature of that story lol.
JohnnyoftheWell 02.15.21	"I tried reading hard boiled but couldn’t even get past the long description of how the main character likes fat women." a top 10 reason why Hard Boiled is probs his most overrated
heyadam 02.16.21	if I’m being completely honest, I feel like I really only read murakami for his random beautiful descriptions of ennui and aimlessness, the weird imagery, and quirky dialogue. all the other stuff tends to not get remembered by me or I don’t give it much importance.
Anthracks 02.16.21	I really don’t view his female characters that way at all. I guess I think I can see why someone would? But when I remember them I don’t think of any of what you’re mentioning. And I guess I also don’t see it as a bad thing that a book written by a man seems like it’s written by a man? I don’t think all literature needs to be “all-inclusive” to be enjoyable or respectable. There are a lot of non-actualized humans out there, so why shouldn’t art reflect that?
porcupinetheater 02.16.21	I mean that's a fair case, nothing I've heard seems to say he's bad to people in real life or anything, and I'm stoked he's writing things that a lot of people can find meaning and value in. It just ain't for me, so I've done gave up on reading his stuff myself So much art out there we’re all gonna be worm chow before we get to a registrable fraction of it, so there’s worth in being hyper choosy lol
Anthracks 02.16.21	I agree that one should primarily read the things that speak to them with how much is out there. But I do try to branch out and try authors who I wouldn’t normally be drawn to. I’ve found just about every read to be fulfilling in some way; even if I don’t enjoy it, I find that I usually learn something new. I also try to limit my criticisms on the things I don’t like. Except for Infinite Jest. Lol.
Anthracks 04.28.21	Update: First Person Singular would be the new 16 (between Wind and After Dark) - not his best work and not anything new for him. he's just writing whatever tf is comfy for him and that's cool and still entertaining but it's definitely been done before. the charlie parker and monkey story are the only ones worth going out of your way for i never ranked Killing Commendatore either, but I'd put it between After Dark and MWW
kalkwiese 09.08.21	Now that some time passed for me, how would you guys judge the ending of 1Q84? The weird thing for me is, the book acually accomplishes what it tried to. But what it actually tried to do is in stark conflict with what the book seemed to promise
Mythodea 09.08.21	yup, 1Q84 was a bit of a bummer after three books. And I got so disappointed to see the political commentary turned down to minimum volume
kalkwiese 09.08.21	Yes, the links to Orwell were just dropped and iirc no one was ever in danger after a certain point? Very disappointing ending, I felt like "what was the fucking point?" and that's not a good thing to say about an ending in general. (I'll probably go with Wind Up Bird Chronicle next, since it's supposed to be one of his masterpieces. Probably a better way to get into Murakami than 1Q84)
kalkwiese 09.08.21	I wanted to get more information about the Little People. They're supposed to be an inversion of Big Brother iirc, but they ... just don't really do anything, don't they? I struggle to see a good allegory in them tbh.
Mythodea 09.08.21	Ι don't remember much about the little people now tbh. Anyway, I love Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, one of my all time favourites. And then try Kafka on the Shore, fo' sho'
Anthracks 09.08.21	if you care a lot about endings you might as well stop reading murakami now. he doesn't write endings for his books, except killing commendatore. it's one of his trademarks. there is never closure.
kalkwiese 09.08.21	I think I'll try at least one of his masterpieces, before I give up on him. There was much great about 1Q84. I mean, I don't need an ending to be clear, I just don't want it to be lame
Mythodea 09.08.21	@Anthracks Biggest edging ending was Sputnik My Love, and South of the Borders.... Both terrific climaxes But with Wind-Up Bird there's both an ending and an... explanation? Quite so