From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
Review coming soon...
UPDATE: I feel bad giving Murakami 3 stars. Not that I've read anything else he wrote yet, but the reputation precedes him. But for me, this book was meh. I did care enough about the plot to read lots of pages per day, but I felt the ending was really predictable. I also felt the writing in some parts -
especially the beginning - was choppy, sounding robotic, reminding me of the worst of Hemingway. (Acknowledgement: I know that could be poor translation.) I was excited about ...more
UPDATE: I feel bad giving Murakami 3 stars. Not that I've read anything else he wrote yet, but the reputation precedes him. But for me, this book was meh. I did care enough about the plot to read lots of pages per day, but I felt the ending was really predictable. I also felt the writing in some parts -
especially the beginning - was choppy, sounding robotic, reminding me of the worst of Hemingway. (Acknowledgement: I know that could be poor translation.) I was excited about ...more
Enjoyed it thoroughly
What a fine book. How one perceives oneself, what he feels others think about him and the amalgam of it all.
"Our lives are like a complex musical score, Tsukuru thought. Filled with all sorts of cryptic writing, sixteenth and thirty-second notes and other strange signs. It's next to impossible to correctly interpret these, and even if you could, and then transpose them into the correct sounds, there's no guarantee that people would correctly understand, or appreciate, the meaning therein. No gu ...more
"Our lives are like a complex musical score, Tsukuru thought. Filled with all sorts of cryptic writing, sixteenth and thirty-second notes and other strange signs. It's next to impossible to correctly interpret these, and even if you could, and then transpose them into the correct sounds, there's no guarantee that people would correctly understand, or appreciate, the meaning therein. No gu ...more
Aug 26, 2014
Elizabeth
added it
Like all the other Murakamis I have read--dislocating and maybe even mildly distressing to read, yet enjoyably so, if that makes any sense. Both the translation and Murakami's plot itself conspire to remind you about how little you understand about the narrative voice. Themes of lost friendship and lost youth are usually mitigated by some hope for the future; Murakami is pretty uncompromising about not allowing this either.
...more
This is probably deeper than I am able to appreciate, but I did enjoy the experience of reading this book. The style is a little more expository and reflective than many other books I have read, but that's not a bad thing. This is an intellectual book with layered emotionally analytical content, all meant to be taken in thoughtfully and deliberately. Unsettling and haunting.
...more
A beautifully written and told story of a person in his mid-30s acknowledging the parts of his past that scarred him and seem to be holding him back. The pilgrimage allows for piecing together a new reality and sense of self.
Physically, the book is very nicely designed with allusions to the story embedded in the design choices/placement. Neat!
Physically, the book is very nicely designed with allusions to the story embedded in the design choices/placement. Neat!
I think i made the mistake of reading his best book first. I read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles and loved it. Next I read Norwegian Wood which I also enjoyed but it was much different than WUBC. This one never pulled me in though.
As always, the writing is stunning. thinking back in who people used to be, and comparing that to who they are is a subject I need little cajoling on, so that too was a delight
...but...
I won’t be picking this up again or recommending it any time soon. Beautiful as the writing is, stories that hinge on a false rape accusation need to be kept on the shelf for a while
...but...
I won’t be picking this up again or recommending it any time soon. Beautiful as the writing is, stories that hinge on a false rape accusation need to be kept on the shelf for a while
Aug 27, 2014
Jana
marked it as to-read
Sep 05, 2014
Cathy
marked it as to-read
Oct 10, 2014
Rachel
marked it as to-read
Oct 29, 2014
Samantha Storey
marked it as to-read
Nov 26, 2014
Megan
marked it as to-read
Dec 01, 2014
Heather
marked it as to-read
Dec 05, 2014
Amy
marked it as to-read
Jan 05, 2015
Erin Black-Mitchell
added it
Oct 15, 2015
Christina MOVED TO STORYGRAPH Perucci
marked it as to-read
Nov 15, 2015
LT
marked it as to-read
