Novels that are Connected-Prequels/Sequels

[Mosca]

I understand thatDance, Dance, Dance is in a few ways a sequel to A Wild Sheep Chase.

Does anyone know of any other Murakami novels that are "paired" or sequential such as these. In other words, novels that are prequels or sequels to other novels?

Thanks in advance.

[Tora]

Yes, both Hear the Wind Wing and Pinball, 1978 are connected to A Wild Sheep Chase. And as far as I can understand, Norwegian Wood is connected to Pinball, 1978. But non of them is connected in a straightforward way.

This complexity is one of the things I love the most about Murakami..

[Eric]

I've noticed that a lot of characters in his short stories are named Noboru Watanabi...

[Angie]

Mosca wrote: "I understand thatDance, Dance, Dance is in a few ways a sequel to A Wild Sheep Chase.

Does anyone know of any other Murakami novels that are "paired" or sequential such..."

I read Dance, Dance, Dance before Wild Sheep Chase, and though there are tenuous ties, I didn't feel like it harmed either book to read them "out of sequence."

[Suttola]

There are a few characters called 'Toru', I think three so far from the books I've read. I know that's not what you meant but I wonder why that name, and the prevalence of cats in the stories, and whiskey! Maybe Murakami is projecting himself onto the characters' personalities.

[Ardita]

Having read several of his work, reading some interviews with him and saw his face, I think Murakami might be projecting himself into many stories that he wrote: someone with a complex character, loves Jazz and cats, aloof, deadpan.

[Daniel]

Pinball, 1978--I actually have a copy of that in Japanese, but I don't know if there are any English copies available. I've tried to read some of Murakami's work in Japanese, but I'm not to the point where I can read very comfortably.

[[deleted user]]

In Japan, at least, "Hear the Wind Sing," "Pinball, 1978," and "A Wild Sheep Chase" are considered to be "Sheep" trilogy. I don't know why "Dance, Dance, Dance" is not included though...

One trivia: Eric mentioned the name "Noboru Watanabe," which appears in some of Murakami's short stories and "Wind-Up Bird Chronicle." It is the real name of Mizumaru Anzai, a very famous Japanese illustrator who often collaborates with Murakami and is also one of Murakami's (a very few) best friends.

[Daniel]

That name is also in Norwiegan Wood, is it not. I wonder if it's the same character.

[Eric]

Daniel,

I found a copy of Pinball online that is in English if you're interested.

[Daniel]

Eric i've always wanted to read pinball but can't find it! could you tell me where you found that copy?

[Jose]

I'm interested in that copy of Pinball in English!

[Daniel]

Eric wrote: "Daniel,

I found a copy of Pinball online that is in English if you're interested. "

Yeah, I would be very interested. What's the URL?

[[deleted user]]

I thought the English version of "Pinball" was published by Kodansha International, translated by Birnbaum...

I just looked up on Amazon, and the book costs $400!!! It is definitely a collector's item...

[Natasa]

From what I have read so far:
1) Short story The Wind-up Bird and Tuesday's Women became the model for the opening section of the novel "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle".
2) Short story Man-Eating Cats was incorporated into novel Sputnik Sweetheart.
3) Short story Firefly was with some changes incorporated into novel Norwegian Wood.
For all of them I have read first the novels and when reading short stories it was an interesting feeling whenever there was some minor detail different in there.
I agree that Dance Dance Dance can be read seperatly, although it is a follow-up.
I would also modestly ask for the above mentioned URL...

[William]

http://www.betz.lu/media/users/charel...

[Natasa]

Nicole (& William): thanks for the "push" I needed. I'm reading already, on page 69 atm. Confused :)

[Natasa]

Takashi wrote: "In Japan, at least, "Hear the Wind Sing," "Pinball, 1978," and "A Wild Sheep Chase" are considered to be "Sheep" trilogy.

Takashi, do you know why? Because of the Rat?
I haven't got my hands on the second one, but have read all the rest.

[[deleted user]]

Natasa wrote: "Takashi, do you know why? Because of the Rat?
I haven't g..."

I bet you're right. I found that they are also called "Nezumi (which means rat)" trilogy, and "Seisyun (an online dictionary says it means adolescence, but I'm not sure about that...)" trilogy...

I hope you'll get a chance to read "Pinball..."!

[Natasa]

I've read Pinball already. Pinball is the second not the first? :)

[George]

I read them in the chronological order of "Hear The Wind Sing", "Pinball, 1973", "A Wild Sheep Chase" and "Dance, Dance, Dance". While the first two aren't really necessary to understand the plot of "A Wild Sheep Chase" they do make the emotional impact of some stuff that happens (won't spoil) a bit deeper.

I like to think that most of the stories of Murakami exist within the same kind of Universe. I remember reading a theory somewhere that the "End of the World" in "Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" was the same place as the forest in "Kafka on the Shore". I think it's really up to you.

[Alex]

Pinball, 1973, was Murakami's second novel, and also the second novel in his Trilogy of the Rat series. It was printed in English only for distribution in Japan and has been long out of print. There is a blog called readersdiscotheque that covers novels that weave music into the story, which all Murakami's novels do. The blog uncovered a pdf of the original pocketbook edition and received Murakami's permission to make the pdf available for free (the blog has an interview with Murakami in the works). Not only can you download the novel but also all of the songs mentioned in Pinball, 1973. The cover is there, too, and it's amazing. the URL is http://readersdiscotheque.blogspot.com

[Jelena]

George wrote:


Exactly, I'm also one of the readers who felt a connection there. When reading "Kafka...",I spontaneously wandered back to "Hard-boiled wonderland..." and connected the forest with End of the World.

They're both located at the very core of your being, at the bottom depth of mind. Where condratictions and darkness may arise, but where you can find people and things you've lost, pieces of your own being you've been losing. And there always seems to be something very important you can't do unless you go down into that depth and face it. Such a place, or the echo of it, exists in most of Murakami's works.For instance, it's similar to the well in "The Wind-up bird Chronicle." Well and forest- said to be mythical symbols of the subconscious.
There are more examples like this, so I agree with you,that many characters and places in his various books feel to be connected, arising from the same kind of world...And I actually love that feeling...

[Alex]

You said that well, Jelena. I too love the feeling of being in that place.

[Nick]

From what I've read in various interviews, etc., his first three novels: Hear The Wind Sing, Pinball 1973 and Wild Sheep Chase, are three in a series known as the Trilogy of the Rat, with recurring characters, etc.

I also read in an interview that he felt Kafka on the Shore was a kind of sequel to Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

Many of his stories cross over, and I remember reading in another interview that he seems to include his obsessions in most of his novels, such as wells, cats, spagetti, music, etc.

[Jason]

Cat in wind up is in Kafka. But I donno if this was mentioned yet

[Jeffrey]

I read 1Q84 first. As I read through all his other books I got the feeling that characters in his earlier novels were more or less rough drafts of the people who finally appear in 1Q84. The irascible, jazz-loving, cooking bachelor character seems to be his favorite, and is probably drawn from his own life.

I was surprised to find our good friend Ushikawa in both 1Q84 and Windup bird.

[Jason]

I own 1q84. I got half way into it. Stopped. Picked up wind up. I think I'll read Kafka next. Then go back to it. People keep telling me to read Norwegian wood, but the whole straight love story has give trite. If it was two women or two guys or a triangle of sorts id get into it

[David]

There's a connection between Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman and Norwegian Wood. Toru's the main character in the short story, and the girl he and his friend go visit in the hospital is Naoko.

[Rin]

I believe that Murakami projected himself in some characters in his novels. Moreover, he is also inspired by some people around him. I'm reading "What I talk about when I talk about running", and it seems 1Q84's Aomae was inspired from his real life personal massage trainer:)

[Nick]

David wrote: "There's a connection between Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman and Norwegian Wood. Toru's the main character in the short story, and the girl he and his friend go visit in the hospital is Naoko."

Hadn't considered this - will reread with that in mind.

[David]

Yeah, do it. Adds another dimension to both stories, it's good supplement for Norwegian Wood. I noticed it when Naoko referenced the poem from BW,SW in Norwegian Wood and reread from there.

[J]

Jason wrote: " People keep telling me to read Norwegian wood, but the whole straight love story has give trite. If it was two women or two guys or a triangle of sorts id get into it"

Norwegian Wood is hardly trite. It's not just any old love story, there are much deeper themes than that. But if you can't read it with an open mind, then it's better to stay away from it, you won't be able to appreciate it for what it is.

[Emma]

I noticed that wind up bird chronicles might be a sort of prequel to 1Q84, because the callus and corrupt investigator called Ushigawa (if I remember correctly) is used by Noboru Wataya in communication between Toru and Kumiko, and then Ushigawa is later used by the cult to investigate Tengo, but eventually ens up being killed by Tamaru in 1Q84.

[John]

Emma wrote: "Ushigawa (if I remember correctly) is used by Noboru Wataya in communication between Toru and Kumiko...but eventually ens up being killed by Tamaru in 1Q84. "

Emma, what's even more interesting about that is that - if I'm not mistaken - there is a slight overlap: Ushikawa's appearance in Wind-Up Bird takes place in late 1984 to early 1985, however in 1Q84, Ushi was killed near the end of 1984.

It also seems very unlikely that he was employed by the Sakigake Cult and by Noboru at the same time...so I suppose we can chalk it up to the parallel universes :)

In any case I love the shared universes/recurring things, it is one of the things that attracts me most about Murakami.

[Hans]

Is Toru Watanabe (from Norwiegan Wood) the same character of the "Sheep" trilogy and "Dance Dance Dance"? Just think about it... Naoko is mentioned as a memory in Pinball....

[Woody]

Hallo guys,
I heard that these is a short story which ispired Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Someone knows what is?

Thank you

[Micha]

So, it has become clear to me that I need to go back and reread every Murakami Haruki novel and short story, because while I knew that while "Hear the Wind Sing", "Pinball", "Wild Sheep Chase", and "Dance x3"were part of the "Rat series" and "Strange Library" has a reoccurrence of the Sheep Man, dis not know about the other connections yet. I will report back my findings, but this does make for an interesting case as David Mitchell was strongly, strongly influenced by Murakami and he also repeats his characters and settings.

P.s. A version of Wind/Pinball was released in English for only $15USD. :)