Haruki Murakami

[Mr Cat Dog]

Partly inspired by a DCC discussion, and partly inspired by the release of the English translation of his latest novel (1Q84): what's everyone's opinion on the most famous modern author to come out of Japan?

[Shanghai Alice]

I read Hardboiled Wonderland (before Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya [/hipsterglasses]), and it was... trippy. Surreal.

Admittedly, I still have trouble making heads or tails of the book, though reading it in the middle of classes may have had something to do with that. It was... excellent, though.

[Scarf]

Hardboiled Wonderland was the only book of his I was able to finish in a decent amount of time. I read Sputnik Sweetheart, too, and started a few others that I never finished, but it didn't move me at all. I did enjoy HBW though so I don't know if the disconnect is in me or his writing changed. He's a great writer, don't get me wrong, but I just can't find a way to enjoy most of his stories because the plots meander too much and he tries too hard to have ambiguous endings.

[Ryoutarou]

I really don't like a good amount of his work. To me it almost always feels like we're getting the same stories in slightly altered form and so that makes it very difficult to actually progress through his books because a lot of it feels the same. I've not yet read 1Q84, but from what I've heard, it's essentially a "greatest hits" sort of books as far as his story beats go.

But, that said, I did enjoy Norwegian Wood quite a lot, Toru was a "fun" main character to follow throughout, which kind of makes me want to murder that ambiguous ending.