Is Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Murakami

>Norwegian wood, wich i must say, is my favorite book?

GIRL DETECTED

I enjoyed it best of all the books I've read by Murakami. I don't really like him but somehow I do in spite of myself his books are a lot like his protagonists.

I didn't find it interesting compared to his other works. I'd read about six of his other books before I read this. I can barely remember the premise now, his friends stop liking him and he needs to find out why? But ofc there's no real point and it's just a boring overly vague story that you know won't have a decisive ending. A vague ending is fine (he usually does them), but the entire book leading up to it is vague too, there's not a single point of clarity in the whole thing so you just kind of 'finish' without getting any impression

>>9727544
Exactly his books leave absolutely no impression on me and yet I read them whenever they come out and enjoy them. His friends think he is a rapist [\spoiler]

>>9727557
I liked his other books a lot. Maybe I was burnt out on his style by this one, but about 50 pages in when you learn his friends think he did 'something' that he can't remember. I instantly knew it was going to be a 'I don't think I did it, but maybe, in some surrealistic way, I did it' . I actually threw the book in the trash, but then my roommate was going through the trash for some reason and put it back on my desk and I finished it

>>9727583
I mean, shit, you can't even not finish a murakami book when you put in the trash. It's ridiculous.

>>9727583
Finishing Murakami's books is always the height of dissatisfaction. Is it a comment on the mediocrity of sex?

the only book I ever read from this guy is 1Q84, and I deeply regret it.

>>9727533
I liked it too. His other works get kind of repetitive and 3deep5me. I liked the change in style, even if he doesn't.

Kafka on the Shore strikes me as his best book tbqh.

I have been recommended Murakami by some acquaintances whom I'm unsure whether to trust when it comes to literature

Where is a good book to start with this chap?

>>9729133
read wind up bird. if you like it you'll likely like his others. if you don't no need to read any further

I found it reaaaaally boring and the 'message' he wanted to convey in this books was rather stupid. Kafka on the Shore and Norwegian Wood are better, but I also didn't find them masterpieces like people say nowadays.

His only decent novels are Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. His short stories are better than his novels.

>>9730182
>His short stories are better than his novels.
I have never seen anyone discussing his short stories here. Which ones would you recommend me?

>>9730199
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is probably my favorite. Other than that there's just The Elephant Vanishes and After the Quake (which has maybe 5 or 6 stories total).

It's alright, suffers from random surrealism like IQ84

>>9727514
its a terrible pointless book, but it may impress you if you aren't read enough

>>9727514
>Norwegian wood, wich i must say, is my favorite book?

Honestly, how? I'm not saying you're wrong, I just think it's out of his wheelhouse and consequently weaker than his more surreal works.

>>9729097
It's either Kafka on the Shore or The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. The structure, themes, and content are Kafka are more engaging, but there's something about Wind-Up Bird that's incredibly intimate even if it's a little overlong. I hate saying goodbye to good characters, maybe that's it.

>>9730199
Men Without Women was released recently, I quite enjoyed it. It's a short collection, you could finish it in four or five hours. A few of the stories remind me of Mishima, and there's an homage to Kafka's Metamorphosis which is novel.

>>9727544
>>9727542
>>9727557
I think the appeal of Murakami is that, above all, he is a consumer; of (American) pop culture, of food, of music, of mythology, and endearing details of each. Even when it borders on the pretentious in its surrealism, his work has an ease and familiarity due to that quality of his character.
The more you read of Murakami, the more you recognize the commonalities between his works and the comforting accumulation of those things.

>>9731541
I quickly became atached to most of its characters, i really liked its themes and narrative, since it is the only book i've read from Murakami i can't say if it's written better or worse than his other works.
Also surrealism and magic realism aren't my favourite genres. On top of that i strongly related to its protagonist.

>>9731606
Even if you don't enjoy surrealism, I guarantee you'll like his other works if you were attached to the protagonist. Wind-Up Bird, Wild Sheep Cheese, and a few of his other novels and short stories have the same detached, everyman protagonist. Kafka's an outlier, but it's all the better for it.

But yeah, his characters are easy to get attached to; even the ones who are a little frustrating.

>>9731541
Yeah, Wind-Up is the best thing he has written. Pretty tender exploration of pain and emptiness desu. Quite layered, too.

His best book it's A Wild Sheep Chase, don't listen to other faggots.

Ryuu > Haruki

>>9727514
>Your dick is hot
Honestly, I don't know how people get past the sex in nature scene.