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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
Boring, overly violent and exhaustingly explicit.
This book was so many things. Politically charged, gruesome, nihilistic with a sense of satire and, at times, basically insane. There are so many characters and so many cogs in this machine that it is extremely difficult to keep up. It almost becomes a chore. I'd be lying if I said I even grasped 70% of what I read. But I guess that is the appeal of this book. The scale of it. It's impressive that Murakami achieves both scale and well defined characters simultaneously.
I wouldn't say I "enjoyed" this book. I'm not even sure if I would reccomend it. My patience was tested and I don't know if I was rewarded per se. With that said, it would be a great disservice to say that this isn't something amazingly commendable. If my only criticism is that this book is too much, I think it says more about me than the book itself. One can't deny what is done here is spectacular. Truly a work to behold.
3.5/5
I wouldn't say I "enjoyed" this book. I'm not even sure if I would reccomend it. My patience was tested and I don't know if I was rewarded per se. With that said, it would be a great disservice to say that this isn't something amazingly commendable. If my only criticism is that this book is too much, I think it says more about me than the book itself. One can't deny what is done here is spectacular. Truly a work to behold.
3.5/5
Based on the synopsis, there is a great story to be told here, but unfortunately, Murakami fails to deliver on it.
First off, the seemingly endless amount of unnecessary exposition about dozens of characters that have no bearing on the plot is a slog. There are SO many people thrown into the mix here, and it's just not necessary. He could have cut 20 or 30 pages from the first 260 pages by not listing out the name and postions of a bunch of randos.
Murakami also strangely feels compelled to mention when a government or military official is a woman. Not sure why he felt the need to do that, but it was off-putting.
Also, for what is meant to be an alternate reality/dystopian type of novel, Murakami provides no real basis for why the US and Japan have collapsed to the point to where North Korea (of all countries) could waltz in and simply take control of part of Japan. The believability factor is flimsy at best.
I very rarely DNF a book, but I was utterly demoralized by page 260, and there's no way I could make to to the nearly 700 page finish line.
First off, the seemingly endless amount of unnecessary exposition about dozens of characters that have no bearing on the plot is a slog. There are SO many people thrown into the mix here, and it's just not necessary. He could have cut 20 or 30 pages from the first 260 pages by not listing out the name and postions of a bunch of randos.
Murakami also strangely feels compelled to mention when a government or military official is a woman. Not sure why he felt the need to do that, but it was off-putting.
Also, for what is meant to be an alternate reality/dystopian type of novel, Murakami provides no real basis for why the US and Japan have collapsed to the point to where North Korea (of all countries) could waltz in and simply take control of part of Japan. The believability factor is flimsy at best.
I very rarely DNF a book, but I was utterly demoralized by page 260, and there's no way I could make to to the nearly 700 page finish line.
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Quite a tale, and an absurd one at that. However there was one thing that made reading the book gradually less enjoyable. As I read further and further I came across many mistakes in spelling, grammar and even names. Other than that, it's pretty good.
Very long, very boring, lots of characters who I didn't care about (in fact I didn't care for any of them). Awful. The blurb talks about this being thrilling, but it really isn't. Gave up after 300+ tedious pages. No stars.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
DNF at 200 pages. Coin Locker Babies is an all time fave, I loved Greatest Hits of the Showa Era, but it seems like sustaining a novel this large and sprawling with a political plot was just too unwieldy for Murakami… or reading it was too unwieldy for me. I think if I was more of a student of global politics I would have appreciated more about this novel, but instead I found myself just waiting for him to swing back around to the violent weirdos while wading through pages and pages of tertiary characters and political maneuvering. Maybe I’ll give it another shot eventually.
I understand what it was trying to do bur it didn't focus on the characters I was interested in and I kept getting bored lol . Finished after phase 1