So is hating this guy just a /lit/ meme or is he actually shit.

>>8857708

The case with Murakami is that he is sort of the perfect blend between artistic literature and genre fiction. This frustrates the high brow crowd, especially when he puts banal platitudes in the mouth of his characters, trying to be deep. But his style and feel and sometimes the plot can make up for it. For some people, at least.

Think of him as the film Inception. Some good ideas with the intent of being more than just entertainment, executed fairly well with it's music and tone. But the characters were card board cut-outs and the dialogue terrible. The dialogue about love being a constant force made even /tv/ with it's pleb taste lash out, and turned it into a meme. Now is it a good or bad film? Depends on the viewer, what he prefers, and if the good outweighs the bad. I personally found Inception to be bad, but I did enjoy at least 2 of Murakami's novels. Although, I read them ages ago, and have probably matured since then.

Basically, he's hit or miss and could serve as good gateway author to more serious stuff. But he should not be hailed as a more than that, and the fact that he is by "normies" makes /lit/ automatically adverse to his books.

>>8857708
while i'm reading him, i love him
when the novel finishes, i still love him
after some weeks, i hate him
i have no idea if hes good enough to win a nobel as some people say, i'll probably say i love him because all characters he write are me

>>8857918
So if you already read "highbrow" stuff he's basically trite?

>>8857952

Not necessarily. Even though his debt to better authors shine through, he has developed his own style. His worst novels may come off as trite, but I think his best works can stand on their own.

You could argue that it's not worth investing your time in reading him, though. Depends on you, really. I would not bother with him in my current situation, but I have no idea what your reading history and current situation is.

>>8857708
he is like vonnegut, fun to read and pretty simple stuff. but /lit/ needs GR or infinite jest. otherwise its shit literature

but i like him, i just would say his work really hits me hard. its something i read when i just want something i already know im going to enjoy

Haruki Murakami is for chicks who think they're smart but they read on the level of a teenager

>>8858021
Actual girl detected. Why are you even here?

>>8858026
>>8858030
get triggered elsewhere you dumb pol baiter

>>8857708
He's literally the nip version of Vonnegut

I like him. He's okay.

Apart from the magical realism shit, Kafka on the Shore was pretty comfy.

>>8857708
Cooking should be more specific, there's often pasta and opera.

>>8857918
this is a good way to put it

i wanna like his stuff cause he's good at creating moods and atmospheres but he uses them as a base for hackneyed shit

Hey don't want to start a thread but what would be a good book to buy for someone who likes Murakami?

He's a good writer. His books are enjoyable. This offends elitists.

I was wondering what is the perfect distance to keep from Murakami's work?

>>8860116
try soseki: botchan and sanshiro are both p comfy reads

>>8860479
I'm a h. mura fan and I agree botchan is great

I spent many months wanting to read him after he was recommended to me by numerous people. Reviews of his works online are generally incredibly favorable, and someone who knows me compared his books to Mawaru Penguindrum (which is a show I very much enjoyed and appreciated). So, I was quite interested, and was told that Kafka on the Shore would be a great read for me.

Boy, oh boy. I hated it. So Much. I wanted to love it, because I knew that there were "dreamlike" and "abstract" themes, but I was sure it would all come together in the end, like some grand master plan of a Rube Goldberg machine. I was interested to know how he would tie up all of these stupid, senseless themes and ideas and vapid "morals." I was legitimately interested up until the end, just because I wanted some explanation for the overflowing amount of utter inanity.

But there was none. It was just stupid. Just that. Even the title should have been an indicator. Murakami's "references" to Kafka are seriously inconsequential and reek of a cry for attention. As if he is saying "look at my great intellect, and how I understand this classic author! I am so clever referencing him! hyuk!" It's incredibly disappointing, and I have no idea why he has such a huge following.

I once went on a date with a guy who told me C.S. Lewis was too thick and vague with the philosophy in his works. The guy wished Lewis would have been more straightforward and less esoteric. He then proceeded to tell me Haruki Murakami was his favorite author because his works were so "deep and meaningful." I was baffled. Legitimately dumbfounded. I mean, really, Lewis is one of the easiest and most accessible writers to understand, even by Christian writer standards. Murakami, on the other hand, is purposely vague and inaccessible just to achieve some fabricated notion of being "deep." I did not go on a second date with this guy. Not just because of that, but that was part of it.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. It's late and I'm tired, but yeah, those are my honest thoughts. My experience with Haruki Murakami is that he is a hack and blows big donkey dick, and if his other works are like Kafka on the Shore, then I never want to lay my eyes on one of his books again.

I will give him credit, though: he got me to finish his book. That's more than can be said for some, I suppose. He's not forgettable, at least, even if I wish he were.

>>8860567
cn u fukin kys

>>8860567
Haruki "Reddit" Murakami BLOWN

THE FUCK

OUT

In any other culture zeitgeist, he'd be a great writer. Murakami is the product of a perpetually bored and shiftless people that have nothing to say, except the words themselves.

>>8860567
i like you. i dated two exes who both loved murakami. so i thought hey lets give this kewl guy a shot: both recced norwegian wood but now i realise clearly why i broke up with them. i hated norwegian wood so damn much that i read it again just to try and sympathise or at least try and find some common ground to rave about. nothing.

if someone likes murakami, it's probably the only thing they like. at least that's what i think i learnt.

>>8860639
>>8860567
For the love of God post your feet

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>>8860651

He's the Wes Anderson of literature.
Has the same nu male fanbase too.

how about you find it for yourself, op?

>>8860768
>tfw no state-assigned autist-wrangling feet gf

Hard Boiled Wonderland was pretty good.
But I have the principle of reading only one book from an author, least I start hating them.
So having read only one of his books, I don't hate the guy.

He blended two stories in one as both unwounded on opposite directions.
It comes off as disgustingly self insert, as this smart bachelor has adventures while enticing women try to seduce him and dangerous people chase him.

The kind of stuff a bored, tame office worker would imagine to make his life bearable.
I still read it to know what kind of books the enemy reads. For I must know my enemy.

>>8858026
>>8858030
>>8859042
Clearly three women roleplaying in their free time.

>>8861127
Hard Boiled Wonderland is (except the nonfiction) the least Murakami like novel he's written - the other ones (all those sheep books, Kafka On The Shore, etc.) are so similar to each other (Kobo Abe's brand of urban almost-magic realism + Japanese autistic romantic interest ala Neon Genesis Evangelion + Western references for the Western market) that I cannot even distinguish them. The non-fiction book with the Aum interviews is pretty cool though. I vastly prefer Kobo Abe who deserves more attention.

I've read 2 of his books and I'll never read anything else by him.

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>>8857708
Well I dont know Anon, why dont you make a third thread about it, it'll only be the 450th thread about "What do you think about Murakami?" or "why is Murakami so shit?" we've had this year.

Maybe you were smart enough to check the archive you would probably have read at least a few pages of any of his easily available works and decided for yourself.

>>8861127
>But I have the principle of reading only one book from an author, least I start hating them.

Are you retarded?

>>8861151
Abe is somewhat problematic. His characters keep molesting women.
He certainly deserves more recognition, if only for his interesting twists.

>>8857708
Dude who lives in Japan and reads Japanese here.

Murakami has his share of critics in Japan who say his books aren't Japanese enough--which they're retarded because it's like criticizing a hypothetical black writer because he chooses to just write some story and not to write about "muh race, etc." But it's basically a meme on /lit/ (Murakami has won prestigious Japanese and international literary prizes--he is mainly liked/admired).

/lit/ and 4chan at large, in its autistic all-consuming obsession with "not being Reddit", has this habit of hating writers based simply on perceptions of their fanbase. They perceive a lot of his fans to be Tumblr basic bitches, hipsters, etc. This is not entirely wrong ***BUT IT IS NOT A REASON TO HATE MURAKAMI***

As for me, I like him. I think he is a mediocre writer (just solid competent prose that is sometimes punctuated by laughably bad similes and imagery), but he's a very good storyteller, one of the best. His books pretty much never fail to be affecting and absorbing. An he's absolutely the "comfiest" rainy day writer out there, imho. As the other anon said, he's in this weird area where he's straddling the line between genre and 'literary' fiction. I don't find his stories super thought provoking, they're more like a gut check.

He's not Nobel worthy or anything, but I think he deserves his popularity and recognition.


>>8858026
Why does this "Murakami is for teen girls" meme persist. Murakami protagonists are jaded 30 something man-children with relationship and/or impotence problems. Girls sure are eating this shit up, yeah. Just admit you've never even read a damn thing he's written.

A critique on Murakami:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQftPJDBDI4

I read "The Colorless..." a while back when i picked the book up on a whim from B&N and knocked it out in like 2 days and forget all about it. The book left absolutely no impression on me.

>>8861253
PUNK AS FUCK

>>8860269
Oh he's definitely the kinda guy you wanna be all snooty about, say he's overrated and that you hated him.

>>8861216
Teen girl detected. We know who you are.

>Murakami has his share of critics in Japan who say his books aren't Japanese enough
Well yeah. Japan is a very stupid place.

>>8861380
You are a very intelligent and thoughtful person.

>>8861394
Obviously. I speak English.

>>8861216
Um...you don't "live" in Japan, you're on holiday there.

>>8861406
Huh thanks for letting me know that I was in error, anon.

>>8858026
THIS

Never read him, sorry.

>>8861434
np

>>8861216
>***CAPSLOCKEXLAMATIONMARK***

>>8861216
Not Japanese enough?
One thing I didn't like about 1q84 was the amount of Japanese cliches. Childhood friend, inexplicable metaphysics, Nubile schoolgirls, (who must have sex with the protag at all costs), everything unusual goes unnoticed by everyone except the protag/antag/associates, small magical creatures as a "natural force", playground at night, incest, etc..

Other than that it was all right but too long.

>>8861499
>Not Japanese enough? One thing I didn't like about 1q84 was the amount of Japanese cliches. Childhood friend, inexplicable metaphysics, Nubile schoolgirls

None of these things are deeply, fundamentally Japanese, and are only perhaps superficial tropes of mainly Bhutanese cartoons (especially the first and last).

That's not what the critics mean. When they say his books aren't Japanese, they mean that the books don't tackle the Japanese zeitgeist or specifically Japanese social issues, historical legacy, etc. And that is true. All of Murakami's books could easily take place anywhere else and they would lose nothing crucial.

But that doesn't really matter, like I said criticism on this basis I think is flawed, as again it's like if some black guy just simply wrote a novel about a talking cat or something where race/racism, legacy of slavery, etc. is not a focus at all, and critics were like "this isn't black enough my brother!!"

I would say it is middlebrow. Not in the memey insulting way, it's just sort of in the middle/

Murakami is very enjoyable. It's easy to read literature with just a hint of depth. If you could take away the amount of sales and the Nobel prize considerations, then the hate would vanish and he would be regarded as a nice comfy writer, better with moods and sensations than with deep ideas.

>>8862804
Also his style is much more influenced by western literature, than japanese. He even writes in English first and then translates to Japanese.

>>8863131
>He even writes in English first and then translates to Japanese.

Not quite 100% correct, I think. He has dabbled in this before, but I believe he principally writes in Japanese and then works very closely with his translators.

I haven't really read much Murakami in Japanese, just a couple short stories.

>>8861216
>Why does this "Murakami is for teen girls" meme persist.
Blame tokio blues being his most popular book.

>>8860567
Mawaru it's a shit anime and you have shit taste.

>>8857918
I think you confused Inception with Interstellar

>>8857708
1Q84 is the worst book I've ever read. Don't know about his other books though.

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What are your favourite films and why?

>>8864364
solaris

>>8860774
Roald Dahl is the Wes Anderson of lit desu