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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
His second book just doesn’t compare to Hear The Wind Sing. This one is stale and took some effort to get through it. Still enjoyable but not as much, but again this is one of the first books written by a legendary fictional writer.
“When the sky darkened he would take the same path back to his own world. This return, though, was always accompanied by an ineffable sadness. The world awaiting him out there was just too big, too powerful; there seemed to be no place where he could burrow into it.”
This quote really stuck with me.
“When the sky darkened he would take the same path back to his own world. This return, though, was always accompanied by an ineffable sadness. The world awaiting him out there was just too big, too powerful; there seemed to be no place where he could burrow into it.”
This quote really stuck with me.
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
"𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭. 𝘈 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴. 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺."
I remember why I loved Murakami so much. Years ago, I read this when it first came out, which was a pool of reading other Murakamis all at once. I hated it, spoiled too much with later Murakami. But with much distance, you get passages like this. This dreaminess. This alonesomeness. This desire to detach and float off. And you get this in lumps throughout the text, and shows, for the first time, the way in which escapism works in Murakami's work.
You don't get this with Hear the Wind Sing. You only get caricatures. It's with this, his second book, do you get to see the seams in which he sews the beauty of character and the worlds they fall into.
Though this isn't perfect and meanders too much on (in my honest opinion) The Rat -- the weakest character of all of his books yet makes too many appearances in Murakami's bibliography. I've always wondered why Murakami dwelled so much on him. I think it's maybe because, in ways, he is escapism as character. But thanks to The Rat, we probably wouldn't get other fine characters like Boku.
Anyway, as I'm rereading old Murakami, it feels right to be here. I'm feeling how my old teenage self feels. And I want to hold his hand, stay up late with him, tell him that years after, life isn't so terrible. That it's still okay to want to escape every once in a while. It's okay to go back to old forms, old favorites. Always, we will cycle and cycle. It's only sometimes that the turbulence gets a bit too much. But you'll get to where you need to be.
🥮🥮🥮
If you enjoyed this write-up, please consider purchasing my novella here.
Or find other thoughts on books and films here.
I remember why I loved Murakami so much. Years ago, I read this when it first came out, which was a pool of reading other Murakamis all at once. I hated it, spoiled too much with later Murakami. But with much distance, you get passages like this. This dreaminess. This alonesomeness. This desire to detach and float off. And you get this in lumps throughout the text, and shows, for the first time, the way in which escapism works in Murakami's work.
You don't get this with Hear the Wind Sing. You only get caricatures. It's with this, his second book, do you get to see the seams in which he sews the beauty of character and the worlds they fall into.
Though this isn't perfect and meanders too much on (in my honest opinion) The Rat -- the weakest character of all of his books yet makes too many appearances in Murakami's bibliography. I've always wondered why Murakami dwelled so much on him. I think it's maybe because, in ways, he is escapism as character. But thanks to The Rat, we probably wouldn't get other fine characters like Boku.
Anyway, as I'm rereading old Murakami, it feels right to be here. I'm feeling how my old teenage self feels. And I want to hold his hand, stay up late with him, tell him that years after, life isn't so terrible. That it's still okay to want to escape every once in a while. It's okay to go back to old forms, old favorites. Always, we will cycle and cycle. It's only sometimes that the turbulence gets a bit too much. But you'll get to where you need to be.
🥮🥮🥮
If you enjoyed this write-up, please consider purchasing my novella here.
Or find other thoughts on books and films here.
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
slow-paced
Not bad, not great. Had the elements of Murakami, but obviously unrefined.
If he had remembered to write a story for the first 2/3rds maybe this would have been better. Also aged liked milk.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
reflective
slow-paced