What is your honest assessment of Murakami's books? Is

>>7570620

The people I know who love Murukami are:
a) my gf's dad (who is pretty patrician, writes poetry, former journalist)
b) a whole bunch of 18-22 year old girls at my uni, I think at least half a dozen I know of really like him
c) this 18 year old heroin addict vietnamese guy i know who wants to be a cartoonist

Middlebrow drivel.

>>7570620
Underground is a really great book.

Been looking to start reading him actually?

Any particular novel a good starting point?

Read 1Q84 a while back.
Liked the prose and magical tone/imagery except the pedo stuff
It's a nice journey but fuck that ending, it made the whole thing feel like an empty, meaningless waste of time.
Got Norwegian Wood for xmas, barely started it - does it have a satisfying ending anon?

>>7570923
>except the pedo stuff

Lol, what was there?

>>7570923
please explain

>>7570958
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/nov/25/haruki-murakami-bad-sex-award

It's not strictly pedo (17), It's just awkwardly/badly written and comes across as fantasy fulfillment.

>>7571032
>that ending
Virtually nothing is explained or given closure, it ends very abruptly with all the subplots and mysteries being completely ignored. The magical shit, the cult, the rape protection centre, the ugly guy (best character imho), the cocoon thing. It's like an adult rip off of Spirited away but at least things in that world make some degree of sense. Again I enjoyed the journey but finishing it like that was infuriating.

>>7571125
>17
And if it were 18, you'd not be weirded out? What about 17 and 364 days?

Also yeah, it's hilariously bad.

>>7571133
I am weirded out but at least she's not like 12.. or maybe borderline is somehow worse.
I've heard this stuff is in his other books too.

>>7570923

norwegian wood is the book that kinda got me into reading, mostly cause it's a really easy read. never before have i read 100 pages in one session and then the other 200 in the other. it's a pretty comfy book id say even though there's some disturbing material.

the main thing gets resolved in the end, even though the story couldve continued.

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>>7571151
He's an evil Jap after all.

https://thatfaintlight.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/the-politics-of-haruki-murakami-part-1/

c/p of some anon's post:

He's obviously a poor reader, which is quite THE fault if you plan to write for a living. He has entry level tastes developed from the stuff from abroad that arbitrarily leaked into Japan's culture (similar to the European lit introduced in pre-War Japan), all very Western. So instead of discussing Noh theatre or a local Shinto festivity, he talks about some symphony or an obscure Jazz player, which is more relatable to the Western world. He has no definite style, only cliches from popular culture and/or his own literature.
He thinks bringing a character to life is to explain he likes this or that, that he practices X discipline, etc. He thinks you need to relate to a character to follow his life story, which is why he throws so many hooks at the reader to make him relate, which is pretty damn easy when most of your main characters are 20-30yos John Grey's, who lack any personality of their own and are all about common sense. Oh, but they also like jazz and enjoy running... wow, such depth of character.

He's despised not only by /lit/ but also by Japanese critics. He's basically Paulo Coelho for weaboos and teenagers. At any rate, he's overhyped by people that have no knowledge of Jap literature, magical realism or existentialism. The philosophy behind him is so easy going, tolerant and stoic most immature people instantly love him, and that's because his readers are largely ignorant.

Whenever you find yourself in front of a "page turner" (ezpz prose, no discernible use of structure) it's usually a sign of how that specific book is filled with banalities.

My personal reason to hate him is because he wrote the worst introduction I've read by a published author (see Soseki's Sanshiro by Penguin). If I'd written such retarded thing about one of the fathers of the literature of my own country I'd feel embarrassed to death. The funny thing it reads just like any other chapter from a Murakami novel:
>i'm lazy and have no drive
>i don't like to tackle complex stuff because i'm pretty dumb
>stuff simply happens to me (usually carried out by women)
>i'll speak of the subject matter in terms of liking/disliking

Literally, a fucking pleb with a bunch of poses.

>>7571557
Pretty good takedown of Murakami desu

>>7570620
Heres the thing, for me, Murakami's writing hits a nice note of simplicity and magical realism. Nothing more nothing less. Its very simple but gets the job done. He doesnt explain everything and lets some things open for interpretation even if he doesnt know what the fuck he wrote, it's as if it just appears in his mind and puts it down on paper, sometimes to great effect, other times is really dribble. Sometimes he can be too blunt with his message and many of his stories and plots are similar with minor twists.

Either way it's enjoyable and shouldnt be taken too seriously, there are better writers out there if you are looking for life changing books.

TL;DR just enjoy it and dont think too much of it.

>>7571557
>He thinks bringing a character to life is to explain he likes this or that, that he practices X discipline, etc. He thinks you need to relate to a character to follow his life story, which is why he throws so many hooks at the reader to make him relate, which is pretty damn easy when most of your main characters are 20-30yos John Grey's, who lack any personality of their own and are all about common sense. Oh, but they also like jazz and enjoy running... wow, such depth of character.

not to say i disagree with the rest of your post or that i am particularly fond of murakami, but, is it at all possible that his characters are like this because people are like this? that murakami's writing is symptomatic of postmodernity in the far east? that he is a critic of that which he portrays? or has everyone interested in literary analysis simply written him off because his books always occupy a full shelf at barnes and noble?

>>7570620

I read Kafka on the Shore this summer and enjoyed it. I didn't love it, or think it was particularly profound, but I enjoyed the mood and sense of mystery he managed to engender. When I read afterwards that Murakami has stated that it is like a riddle, that has to be re-read numerous times, with a different answer to each person, I thought he was a gargantuan faggot.

I hear he's a one-trick pony though, and I haven't felt particularly motivated to seek out his other works.

>>7572246
>postmodernity in the far East

Oh look yet another gaijin who thinks Murakami has any grounding in Japanese culture at all. This is exactly why Murakami is so much more popular in the west: his detached from reality portrayals and western pandering allows westerners to believe they are getting an authentic Japanese experience while not actually getting anything more than a watered down version of what already exists in western lit. It's pure tripe

>>7572253

You just used the term gaijin. Holy kek.

Don't you realize that watered down western tripe is the quintessence of postmodernity, and that any attempt at authenticity is inherently contradictory, impossible, and even if feasible would not be able to be identified?

:^)

>>7572253
>westerners to believe they are getting an authentic Japanese experience
>he thinks people read murakami to be a weeaboo like him

ayyy

>>7572271
He's right you know. It's why most readers (read: not 4chan autists) read him. You have to realize that the vast majority of the reading population isn't looking for anything particularly challenging or novel, and having a super easy and familiar read packaged with an obscure sounding Asian name is a huge selling point.

I think Murakami is very aware of his positioning and marketing potential, which is why he caters his works to what sells.

>>7572286
>It's why most readers
>plebs
>people

bro

>>7572289
I'm not defending anything or advocating Murakami, I'm just pointing out the situation that allowed him to be a big critical and commercial success. He does very well with the "want to seem worldly and sophisticated" reading crowd, which is a pretty big part of the market.

>>7572286
You are either young, stupid, or both

>>7572296
>buttblasted murakami fan detected

>>7572295
>You have to realize
none of what you're pointing out is good or admirable

>>7572310
That statement doesn't carry any connotations of approval, does it? It'd be silly for one to ignore the realities of the world.

>>7571557
>He's obviously a poor reader . . . wow, such depth of character.

Worth noting that he owned a jazz bar and he himself is a long distance runner: these details aren't arbitrarily chosen. If you want to criticize him for putting too much of himself into his protagonists, that's a fair criticism, but to call his tastes craps from a larger cultural table is bogus given his own personal investment in the matter.

>>7572315
I meant that realizing these things doesn't mean I should forgive - let alone embrace his pandering bullshit.

inb4 is/ought dilemma

>>7572451
meh, i remember reading wind up bird chronicle a few years back and it wasn't terrible by any stretch. not as good as pynchon but still very interesting and compelling

>>7570671
this pretty much

>>7570620
Good but not great. I can't defend this assessment, no particular aspect of his writing impressed me, but taken as a whole it just works.

>>7570620
>he a crap writer only popular with college-aged fagboys
solid assessment

>>7570671
>c) this 18 year old heroin addict vietnamese guy i know who wants to be a cartoonist
Tell me more, please

>>7574150

Really not much to say about him other than what I said. He draws little cartoons and sells some as zines and stuff. I watched the norwegian wood film at his house once and he kept sort of sighing and saying 'soooo good' every time something happened. He's a really nice guy, keeps bugging me to read more murakami though. I think he literally hasn't read a book by another writer in a few years.

I should say as well, I live in Australia and this guy is the son of two vietnamese immigrants.

I've read five or six of his books and I like him. Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle are two of my favorite books. I'm big into surrealism and dreams. I think what Murakami achieves in terms of mood and atmosphere is pretty remarkable. To criticize him for "flat" characters is a case of just not clicking with his style, which succeeds with me (and obviously a whole lot of other people too). He's a great storyteller. Who cares if his books go down easy?

i find a lot of his books tail off in the last third. interesting premise, pretty comfy and then the ending always feels like a disappointment, a big let down on whatever build up he had going.
1Q84 especially. was fuckin pissed i wasted so much time on that.

>>7571557
I'm half japanese, I can tell you right now that you're talking shit about the entry level interests nonsense. The post war japs take shit like jazz, whiskey, metal works, craft beer, pottery making and just craft in general very seriously. They beat Scotland last year in making the best whiskey in the world for Christ's sake.

Cosy but indulgent.

>>7571557

Does penguin get Murakami to write the introduction to every classic Japanese book? He wrote the introduction to Akutugawa's Rashamon and that was terrible. He basically slagged off akutagawa for being an immature writer, which is pretty fucking rich

>>7574771
>indulgent
What does this mean in the context of literary criticisms?

>>7575439
self insert wish fulfillment and/or pandering to what his likely readership is.

>>7571125
>17
>pedo

Pure American ideology

Why can't we never have a nice Murakami thread?

>>7575738
Because he's not a nice author?

I thought Kafka on the Shore was really fucking good. Made me remember what it was like to be 15 again.

>>7571151
>>7571133
>>7571125
>>7575718
17 is legal in a few US states and if not all than most of Europe, by a large margin.

>>7570620

my girlfriend likes him. haven't read him. she's got good taste.

>>7571557

>i'm lazy and have no drive
>i don't like to tackle complex stuff because i'm pretty dumb
>stuff simply happens to me (usually carried out by women)
>i'll speak of the subject matter in terms of liking/disliking

I like it

>>7574362

>I'm half japanese

Hi, I'm Jad Fair

>>7575455
How is this bad?

>>7575834
But then we changed it half gentlemen, not beasts beacuse you know, we're like, pretty nice guys

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>>7570620
Just read some Morimi instead.

>>7575977
Insincere, doesn't make an attempt to say anything worthwhile about reality. This applies to everything written for fantasy fulfillment.

>>7575718
imma britfag

>17
its not strictly pedo but the character is described as much more like a child than an adult fmale. its creepy loli bullshit

>>7574336
thank you senpai

>>7570719
Norwegian Wood

After dark it was a quick read

He’s hip to hate. 1Q84 is a fun ride.