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I hated this book, but then I also loved parts of it. To be blunt, it was an extremely frustrating read. At about page 400 I hit a wall--perhaps a well wall--and I had no desire to complete Murakami's opus. But after I pushed past that part, the book ramped up nicely at the end. If I had been his editor, I would have liked to cut a good 200 pages. Still, Murakami's famously detached characters were utterly compelling. The main character's passivity hit a chord of authenticity for me. What happen
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Okay I can now say that I have read a Murakami novel and it was everything that I had heard that it would be; dense, surreal, dreamlike with a dark disturbing and violent thread throughout . To say this book is about a man trying to make sense of wife has left him is to basically tell you nothing, but to try and explain more would make no sense – Did I like this book? Yes I did the quality of writing and imagery is brilliant, but I am still trying to process the impact of it. It has been several
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I had heard mixed reviews about this book. It is very strange, but I think I liked it. Lots of parts made me laugh, and lots of parts made me think. I am glad that I knew going into it that there wouldn't be much resolution and lots of it wouldn't make any sense. I would consider giving the book four stars, but I probably wouldn't recommend it to most people.
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I read 2/3 of this, am now giving up. I used to be able to stomach random 1990s nihilism, and I like some of Murakami's other work, but after a very slow start, a pick-up in the second section, and a completely mundane but violent and silly set of issues throughout, I just need to be done now. I have a long list of better stuff to read.
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Mar 26, 2007
alana
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
nihongo,
post-collegiate-favs


Jul 02, 2007
Rebecca Manery
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
favorite-fiction,
innovative-fiction




Feb 24, 2009
Camille
marked it as to-read


Apr 05, 2011
Pamela
marked it as to-read

Jul 20, 2015
Tiffany
marked it as to-read

Aug 27, 2015
Holly
marked it as to-read


Oct 02, 2017
Tania
marked it as to-read

Jul 19, 2019
Amy Nash Parker
marked it as to-read