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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
Rar liten typisk murakamisk :-) Omtale på ekstern link her:
https://ebokhyllami.blogspot.com/2018/02/rdvin-og-sjokolade-strange-library-av.html
https://ebokhyllami.blogspot.com/2018/02/rdvin-og-sjokolade-strange-library-av.html
I do get the message behind this book, that knowledge can be dangerous but it's just too....strange? Simple? There are too many loose ends and the story was told in such a simple manner that it genuinely did not interest me.
What can I say, it's Murakami? Still shaking my head and wondering. But that is my regular reaction to his works and yet I keep returning. I want a sheepman's donut now.
I put it to 'children' shelf. heheh.
This book is about a boy who came to the library to return his borrowed books. He was about to borrow another book(s) on Ottoman Empire tax collecting system, out of curiousity, when the receptionist girl sent him to a librarian in the basement. The librarian gave him three thick books on the subject on the condition that they were only for internal reading and cannot be borrowed. The boy, pressured to read those books in the library, following the librarian through a maze corridor and into a cell--where he's being kept as a prisoner there.
I listen the audiobook of it so I don't have the previlege to look at the illustrations--I will someday. I love the narrator, he got the creepiness of the evil librarian and in the few last chapters his voice really creep me out I want to skip the minutes but can't. This book is categorized as absurd-Murakami, with The Wind-up Bird Chronicle level of absurdness. I love the boy, though. This time Murakami doesn't play with void character, but use an obliging, sensitive child instead. The boy never could say a straight no and always talked into doing things he didn't want--like reading in the library basement. He's not a rebellious child by nature, so escaping from the cell or not is gonna be his hardest decision.
Short and magical and creepy. Just like what I like from Murakami.
This book is about a boy who came to the library to return his borrowed books. He was about to borrow another book(s) on Ottoman Empire tax collecting system, out of curiousity, when the receptionist girl sent him to a librarian in the basement. The librarian gave him three thick books on the subject on the condition that they were only for internal reading and cannot be borrowed. The boy, pressured to read those books in the library, following the librarian through a maze corridor and into a cell--where he's being kept as a prisoner there.
I listen the audiobook of it so I don't have the previlege to look at the illustrations--I will someday. I love the narrator, he got the creepiness of the evil librarian and in the few last chapters his voice really creep me out I want to skip the minutes but can't. This book is categorized as absurd-Murakami, with The Wind-up Bird Chronicle level of absurdness. I love the boy, though. This time Murakami doesn't play with void character, but use an obliging, sensitive child instead. The boy never could say a straight no and always talked into doing things he didn't want--like reading in the library basement. He's not a rebellious child by nature, so escaping from the cell or not is gonna be his hardest decision.
Short and magical and creepy. Just like what I like from Murakami.
It was pleasant enough as I read it but it left me feeling wanting.
As it is my first ever Murakami, I went in without any expectations but what I got was, I don't know, incomplete?
Having read the short story I am still wondering what happened? The resolution or conclusion to the story did not happen.
Lastly, who is the intended audience for this short story? I will never give it to any kid as it has the potential to leave them forever scarred of libraries, of being curious and to strive to learn more.
Not something I will turn to again, though.
As it is my first ever Murakami, I went in without any expectations but what I got was, I don't know, incomplete?
Having read the short story I am still wondering what happened? The resolution or conclusion to the story did not happen.
Lastly, who is the intended audience for this short story? I will never give it to any kid as it has the potential to leave them forever scarred of libraries, of being curious and to strive to learn more.
Not something I will turn to again, though.
This is a Murakami collectors item- not a true standalone. I don't particularly think the novelette/short story format was right here, and the art added very little. I enjoyed the core of the story, but couldn't appreciate the vehicle used for its delivery.
confession: i picked this up because i thought "I HAVE A STAFF PICK DUE THIS WEEK, WHAT CAN I READ FAST?!" and then i read it & listened to it, and i knew i could not write about it. it's not that it was BAD, it's just that i have no idea who i would ever recommend this to. i don't even think die-hard murakami fans need to read this. here's the premise: a boy goes to the library. the librarian tells him he needs to go to the basement to find what he's looking for. he meets an old man who locks him in a room and forces him to memorize books about taxation during the ottoman empire so that the old man can slurp out his brain, which tastes better when it's full of knowledge. a man in sheepskin brings him donuts and then he tries to escape.
my head hurts.
my head hurts.
It was too easy to gobble this up without taking time to appreciate the art and the subtlety, but it's so very Murakami that a lot of it feels like similar ground and I didn't feel lost.
A boy has an odd question pop into his head on the way home from school and decides to drop in to his local pubic library for research. Drama ensues.
The hardcover is worth getting just for the details of the binding, and the art/illustrations are fantastic. A strange and creepy love letter to libraries and well worth a read.
A boy has an odd question pop into his head on the way home from school and decides to drop in to his local pubic library for research. Drama ensues.
The hardcover is worth getting just for the details of the binding, and the art/illustrations are fantastic. A strange and creepy love letter to libraries and well worth a read.
A cute short story, classically murakami (you know what I mean). I’m only giving it 3 stars because although he step up such an exciting little world, it felt so under utilized by the plot
A great choice for my first Murakami read! The way Murakami tells stories is so wonderfully addicting. The one liners and quirky characters kept me turning the pages, begging to understand them more deeply. 4.5⭐️