Walter's comments (member since Feb 24, 2008)

Walter's comments from the Murakami fans group.

hahaha, where is the story from? I've never read it, but looks like i need to.

I just found out about Etgar Keret. I'm reading his "The Girl on the Fridge". Greatness.

I've converted maybe about four people all with "Sputnik Sweetheart." I still think that is his best, and a great one to start on. It was the first i read by him, and if i had read something like hard boiled wonderland or even Norwegian wood first i doubt i would like him as much as i do.

Yeah, studs is definitely one of my heroes as well. His memoir "Touch and Go" was released sometime the end of last year i think. It was good. Interesting for him to talk about himself for once (and hear him tell a story about buckminster fuller).
There is something about Vonnegut i like, but sometimes he gets a little too "scifi-y" for me. I'm actually kind of surprised that you like terkel and not him. He has some really great ideas and phrasings, and seems to have shared a lot of the same political leanings as studs'. his last, Armageddon in Retrospect,has some really good short stories. I would recommend browsing it some time, maybe it might strike you.

Ben Orki can be kind of dense at times but the stories are really something else. "The famished Road" takes a bit to get into it but is one of my all time favorites...it feels more like having a dream than reading a book.

of course. I really want to read Arundhati roy's "The god of small things" and finish Rushdie's "Midnight's children". Read some more sedaris, vonnegut, studs terkel (I heard murakami fashoined the book about the gas attacks after studs' style). Ben Okri is a pretty great "magical realism" writer too.

Have either of you read the story? As I remember it, a lot of the narration is just that, the narrator reading the story. It's pretty much the story with some pictures to accompany it.

Ilima,
that's really cool. Thanks. I like how tony takitani wishes it was an action film that starred bruce willis :) Very little action in this film.

I didn't realize that Rie played both female parts. I just checked imdb and Issei Ogata plays both Tony and his father.
I think it is quite a beautiful film too. There is only one scene i don't really like. Maybe the most remarkable aspect is that it's just like reading the story.

Has anyone seen this movie? It's based on the story by the same name in "blind willow". I'm wondering what people think of it. Care to comment?

It's hard to say what exactly was disappointing. It did feel incomplete for one, the relationships weren't really explained. It also felt like there was suppose to be a lot of tension and mystery but somehow it got lost. I didn't really care about those gangsters or about the sleeping sister. I also thought that part of the story was kind of...well...cheesy. I did like the two main characters, but the rest of the story, let's just say something was off. (p.s. it's been months since i read it so i might be forgetting something)

(p.p.s. I hate giving murakami a bad review, i really do. "Sputnik Sweetheart" is amazing and puts him right near the top of my favorite authors list, no matter what else he writes.)

"After Dark" = disappointing.