Underground
by Haruki Murakami
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1272)
Superb book of interviews and commentary, with direct testimonies of survivors and perpetrators of the AUM sarin gas attacks in the Tokyo subway, as well as former members of AUM. Murakami's hope is not simply to explore the event and AUM, but what the event reveals of fissures in Japanese society, as many survivors became "double victims," in that on returning to work, they often found themselves ostracized from the strict codes and conformities of Japanese corporatist society, as th...more
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Read in October, 2007
In 1995, members of the Japanese religious cult Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas in the Tokyo underground subway. As a result, 12 people were killed and hundreds if not thousands were injured - many with long-lasting effects. Murakami, a novelist (my favorites of his include Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles) set out to interview the victims of the attack. He wanted to better understand how something so horrible could happen, what effect such an attack had on the Japanese people...more
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Read in June, 2006
A year later, I still think about this book. Besides being a fascinating, creepy account of the tokyo gas attacks, it's a deep look into the human psyche and the cult mentality.
This is like one of Murakami's novels, except all of the characters are real people, which makes it that much more awesome. True stories can capture so many beautiful, odd details and weird coincidences.
I think that it is the experiences of ordinary people like the people in this book that informs Murkami's char...more
This is like one of Murakami's novels, except all of the characters are real people, which makes it that much more awesome. True stories can capture so many beautiful, odd details and weird coincidences.
I think that it is the experiences of ordinary people like the people in this book that informs Murkami's char...more
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Read in May, 2007
I rate this book a 4 star.
This is Murakami's only work of non-fiction. The book is mostly interviews from survivors of the Tokyo Gas Attack. It uses the interviewees to speak for the Japanese people and shed light on the Japanese culture.
The book was originally written with only survivors and not much about the perpetrators, the Aum cult. It was only after it was originally published that Murakami added the second part of the book with interviews people who were in Aum at the time of the...more
This is Murakami's only work of non-fiction. The book is mostly interviews from survivors of the Tokyo Gas Attack. It uses the interviewees to speak for the Japanese people and shed light on the Japanese culture.
The book was originally written with only survivors and not much about the perpetrators, the Aum cult. It was only after it was originally published that Murakami added the second part of the book with interviews people who were in Aum at the time of the...more
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An amazing book.
In 1995, Aum Shinrikyo, a cult group lead by Shoko Asahara, carried out a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system. 12 people were killed and another 4-5,000 were injured. Asahara was a failed acupuncturist (and interestingly, an anime and manga fanatic) who decided to pull an L. Ron Hubbard and invent a religion for fun and profit. Borrowing aspects of Mahayana Buddhism, yoga, Taoism, and the anime series "Space Cruiser Yamato" (known in the US as "Star Bla...more
In 1995, Aum Shinrikyo, a cult group lead by Shoko Asahara, carried out a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system. 12 people were killed and another 4-5,000 were injured. Asahara was a failed acupuncturist (and interestingly, an anime and manga fanatic) who decided to pull an L. Ron Hubbard and invent a religion for fun and profit. Borrowing aspects of Mahayana Buddhism, yoga, Taoism, and the anime series "Space Cruiser Yamato" (known in the US as "Star Bla...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in September, 2006
recommends it for:
The Artistic/Those in Japanese psyche
It is interesting (actually quite awesome really) that by compiling essays from a variety of people one can actually form a collage of a literature work that seems almost graphically artistic in a sense. It forms a kind of tribute too in recognizing the people who were affected in the Aum Shinrikyo Sarin attack as individuals with their own ideals and hopes, or to put it another way, simply human just like you and me unlike how the media can portray us a mere statistic while traveling the journe...more
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I know the subway line in Tokyo that the AUM attacked very well. It goes through the 'posh' or expensive areas of Tokyo - as well as some leading tourist sites - the Ginza, Roppongi. Then the unthinkable happened - especially in Tokyo. The gas attack.
Murakami and an assistant interviewed everyone who was on that train line that morning - so the reader gets slightly different versions what happened on the subway line. All the victims talk about their bad health after-affects of course, b...more
Murakami and an assistant interviewed everyone who was on that train line that morning - so the reader gets slightly different versions what happened on the subway line. All the victims talk about their bad health after-affects of course, b...more
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recommends it for:
those interested in accounts of terrorism/Japan
Very interesting book, though it does tend to drag. This is not a typical Murakami book. It's non-fiction and interviews the victims of the Tokyo gas attack. The reactions, while the accounts do get a bit repetitive, are all the more interesting to an American reader. Just think, if you found out you were being gased on the subway...how would you act? The reactions will surprise you.
Yet, the original book distances itself from any explanation of the attack itself, focussing on simply th...more
Yet, the original book distances itself from any explanation of the attack itself, focussing on simply th...more
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Read in February, 2008
The only non fiction piece of Haruki Murakami. He has an interesting structure and approach to 1995 Aum Shinrikyo's evil deed to spread sarin gas in Tokyo's subway system.
It's pretty interesting as you read through the book, you'd discover reasons that brought Murakami to write this piece. As you went through each personal account of those affected and involved in the criminal attack, you'd discover the real Japanese psyche. How family managed themselves, the life of ordinary workers. Feelin...more
It's pretty interesting as you read through the book, you'd discover reasons that brought Murakami to write this piece. As you went through each personal account of those affected and involved in the criminal attack, you'd discover the real Japanese psyche. How family managed themselves, the life of ordinary workers. Feelin...more
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Read in April, 2008
First it was a learning tool for me. I didn't know too much about the sarin gas attacks other than they happened on the subway and some people died. When I was in Japan last summer, I saw a wanted poster for three of the cult members involved. But what was the attack about? This book was originally released as two books: one book that comprised interviews of the victims. The second book took a closer look at the cult that was responsible. It was intensely interesting and interestingly wri...more
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Read in January, 2008
An interesting read. Much of the book isn't able to take advantage of Murakami's great writing ability, since they are interview transcriptions, but this is a book perhaps no other writer would have done.
The stories give the book a definite tone (if not perhaps a few moments where the Japanese is badly translated), and I am very happy that the second half was appended -- giving the side of the Aum cult gives the entire book a much fuller feeling.
By the end of the interviews, I thought it...more
The stories give the book a definite tone (if not perhaps a few moments where the Japanese is badly translated), and I am very happy that the second half was appended -- giving the side of the Aum cult gives the entire book a much fuller feeling.
By the end of the interviews, I thought it...more
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Read in March, 2008
An important read for anyone working in emergency preparedness, but an interesting read for others, most likely. Murakami interviewed survivors of the 1995 sarin gas poisoning in Tokyo, as well as some members of the Aum cult. I appreciated how personal the story of a bioterrorist attack became (especially given how removed from real people it can sound in the professional writings I have to read on bioterrorism). Gave insight into how the lack of coordination by the government and healthcare re...more
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Read in January, 2004
recommends it for:
all subway riders
This is about the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway. As a daily NYC subway rider, it fascinated me that many people on the subway during the attack began to feel sick from the gas, but didn't get off the train, figuring they could just make it to their stop. I've suffered my way through a few subway rides feeling ill...makes me realize the best thing to do is probably just get off the train until you feel better because who knows what is actually making you sick! A bit overly paranoid to thin...more
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Read in October, 2007
I found this book haunting. Ordinary citizens heading to work on the subway, some running a little late or a little early that day and some taking a different route for some reason or other ... Almost like the hands of fate had it in for them. And maybe she did. Suddenly they find they can't breathe easily and their vision darkens. Did someone turn off the lights? What is going on here? Why has the train stopped ... I don't want to be late for work! What is that sticky mess on the floor her...more
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Read in November, 2007
I can't believe I started another book, when I haven't even finished the reading list for my International Trauma Studies Program. But I bought this at the Strand yesterday, for several reasons: (1) people have been recommending Murakami to me for ages, (2) I didn't know he'd written any nonfiction (which I'm currently more into than fiction), and (3) it covers two of my biggest interests - urban underground transit systems, and human trauma and recovery. And then I started it this morning, ab...more
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A collection of interviews with the survivors of the 1995 Tokyo subway attacks.
Nightmare imagery abounds. A young subway employee rounds a corner to see two co-workers stuffing newspapers into a garbage can, and "some sort of weird liquid" spilling everywhere. Ugh.
Also, this work has been said to represent a turning point in Murakami's career - the point where he felt the need to use his usual screwball plots of longing and disaffection in order to explore things that are burie...more
Nightmare imagery abounds. A young subway employee rounds a corner to see two co-workers stuffing newspapers into a garbage can, and "some sort of weird liquid" spilling everywhere. Ugh.
Also, this work has been said to represent a turning point in Murakami's career - the point where he felt the need to use his usual screwball plots of longing and disaffection in order to explore things that are burie...more
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Read in January, 2008
I recently re-read this book because I'm teaching it in one of my composition classes. My students reacted so well to it and gave me a lot of new things to think about. They also all agreed that Part 2 interviewing the cult members not directly involved with the attack was unnecessary and not as compelling or well structured as Part 1 (with the victims). I agree with their assessment in part, though I think it's a necessary part of the story. Just be aware of the two different parts and decide f...more
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Read in September, 2004
recommends it for:
anyone interested in international history
While this is non-fiction, this brilliant book does not disappoint. Murakami's first attempt at feature writing documents Tokyo's strife with a national cult and personalizes the devastation through the accounts of several people involved in the attacks, including ex-members of the cult. He makes no one a villain, passes no judgment, just creates a record of modern history to show the resilience of a country who has endured being knocked down severely in the past time and time again.
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A non-ficition work. The state of unknowing and mysteriousness that capture me in Murakami's fiction works is also very much present in Underground. Within are interviews of survivors of the Sarin gas attacks in the Tokyo subway. The second half of the book is interviews of the people responsible for the atttacks. Aside from the very respectful and thorough way he's captured exactly the impact of the attacks, the book also offers a window on what in our world informs his writing.
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Read in October, 2007
I was very hesitant about reading another Murakami work. He borrows so heavily from Kenzaburo Oe, it surprises Murakami has gotten so much acclaim. Not only does he borrow from Oe's fiction, but this nonfiction work was obviously written with Oe's Hiroshima Notes in mind. A good read if you're interested in the Aum Shinrikyo attack. The last half of the book, which focuses on the former members of the cult, is far more interesting than the first half that focuses on the victims.
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