thatbookisonfiyah 's review for:

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
5.0
dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated

This is my seventh piece of fiction by Murakami and he just keeps getting better and better. I have tried to read his works in publication order (well, mostly) since first reading The City and Its Uncertain Walls at the end of last year. I am excited to watch his craft as a writer develop, both in terms of his prose style and his personal creative voice. This story is the final one in his Trilogy of The Rat (although this is the fourth published work in that series) and he has developed from a Jack Kerouac-style storyteller into a much more polished and thought provoking writer. This story has deeply imbedded aspects of his magical realism that add a level of sophistication and metaphysical reality to his richly crafted worlds of Tokyo and Sapporo. This story focuses on the search for meaning in life, the sense of loss and dread of the unknown, and the need for companionship on several distinct levels. What a wonderfully powerful and moving journey - happy at times, sad at times, and depressing at times, but meaningful for all of those aspects. Absolutely beautiful!!