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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
Stylistically close to Hear the Wind Sing, but a little disjointed and overall not as satisfying. It may be a feature of the translation, but there's very little demarcation between the first-person narrative of the unnamed protagonist and the third-person narrative following the Rat.
It's more Murakami than its predecessor, but not wholeheartedly so; and as such it falls between two stools. Probably the best part is the additional context it gives A Wild Sheep Chase.
It's more Murakami than its predecessor, but not wholeheartedly so; and as such it falls between two stools. Probably the best part is the additional context it gives A Wild Sheep Chase.
Second installment from the Rat series. I don't know why but I kinda love this book. The twins, Rat and the narrator. There's nothing outstanding about it but it gives you a sense of longing, loneliness, and warm kind of vibes feeling.
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
magical and whimsical, bending the line between real world and fantasy.
This was a boring and uninspiring book. I had to force myself to finish it, which is never good. It almost felt like nothing was really connected but in a bad way. Very uneventful and only the bar scenes were interesting in my opinion. I wish we could've learned a bit more about Jay, honestly. But i find it interesting that only he had a name. Everyone else was "the rat" or "the twins" or "the office girl". I assume it's a stylistic choice and i liked it.
Here's what I wrote on a forum discussing 1Q84 and Pinball, 1973:
Hate to agree, as much as I dig Murakami 90% of the time, 1Q84 is probably a waste of time. I disagree that it's a complete failure, and I did think it was an interesting concept and enjoyed more than a few parts, but on the whole I can't help but think that the past few weeks would have been better spent working through my existing queue of books. Unless you're a die-hard Murakami completionist or you have loads of extra time on your hands and no other pending books to read, you're probably better off working on something else.
Pinball, 1973 for instance, if you haven't already read it. I read it over a couple hours earlier today and it absolutely cleansed my palate for reading in general and Murakami in specific. I thought it highlighted the things he has done best over his career: it was written to almost a perfect degree of description (whereas 1Q84 was--as is well lamented--overwritten), the parallels he drew between the story's characters were novel and tragic, and there's an air of mystery and melancholy that he didn't extinguish for the sake of a clean ending. It's absolutely become one of my favorites as his just as quickly as 1Q84 has become my least favorite. After Dark at least had the good sense to be short.
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
"It was a regular sort of laugh, the kind you'd expect from a girl who had received straight As in school; yet for some strange reason it lingered long after she had left, like the grin of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland."
Murakami's second novel builds on his first, but I still think the former is better than the latter. This book feels like it's a bit too lacklustre in its composition, and I suspect (though I have absolutely zero evidence) this is due to the fact that Murakami, encouraged by his unlikely success with Heard the Wind Sing, has decided to see just how far he can stretch his luck. A bit too far, in my opinion.
Still the Murakami factors are all there: the mundane routines, the strange relationships, and the simple, yet profound prose so adept at conjuring mental images. And of course his obsession with breasts:
"Their colors would fade, but their breasts would retain their eternal beauty."
Some things never change.
Murakami's second novel builds on his first, but I still think the former is better than the latter. This book feels like it's a bit too lacklustre in its composition, and I suspect (though I have absolutely zero evidence) this is due to the fact that Murakami, encouraged by his unlikely success with Heard the Wind Sing, has decided to see just how far he can stretch his luck. A bit too far, in my opinion.
Still the Murakami factors are all there: the mundane routines, the strange relationships, and the simple, yet profound prose so adept at conjuring mental images. And of course his obsession with breasts:
"Their colors would fade, but their breasts would retain their eternal beauty."
Some things never change.
sad
fast-paced
Turns out re-reading Murakami's books is one of my favourite past times! This book (which is a sequel to his first novel) is not my favourite. Nevertheless I got the english version for christmas so I had no choice but to read it!
No one is surprised that I could literally read Murakami's grocery list and be interested. That's why the storytelling is always my favourite part in his works.
I enjoyed the themes of loneliness and obsession, as well as my favourite element - magical realism! It definitely hit hard here, I could read about the twins making coffee and looking for tennis balls all day long!
However, it was kind of dragging, I wasn't fully emmersed in the story (it could be because I already read it once but I didn't have that problem with other Murakami re-reads).
3/5 stars it is.
Til we meet again, Murakami.
No one is surprised that I could literally read Murakami's grocery list and be interested. That's why the storytelling is always my favourite part in his works.
I enjoyed the themes of loneliness and obsession, as well as my favourite element - magical realism! It definitely hit hard here, I could read about the twins making coffee and looking for tennis balls all day long!
However, it was kind of dragging, I wasn't fully emmersed in the story (it could be because I already read it once but I didn't have that problem with other Murakami re-reads).
3/5 stars it is.
Til we meet again, Murakami.