I read and enjoyed Kafka on the Shore years ago (although I could barely tell you what it was about now). After enjoying Kafka I’ve tried a few times to read some of his other stuff and inevitably end up stalling out. This has happened with IQ84, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and now with Sputnik Sweetheart. It’s always during the first chapter that I get bogged down in this miasma of being bored, and the reoccurring theme of one of the characters going on and on about some classical composer and the sublimity of their works (blah blah blah). It starts to grate on me as pretentious, boring and droll. Does anyone else feel this way? I was honestly kind of surprised that he has consistently used this same device in multiple stories I’ve read, to the point that now it just feels silly that there’s always some character right from the get go that is this BIG classical music aficionado. It might seem to be a weird thing to key on, but it just bores me to encounter it over and over, right from the start.
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what grated me was one character is always driving a toyota and drinking perrier… book after book. Like a paid ad
I liked the four or five books I read, but I did laugh out loud the third time a bachelor character cracked a beer, put on a jazz record, and prepared an elaborate dinner for one.
I love those descriptions. It conveys such a feeling in me. Like one of those really nice days where the windows are open and you’ve had a nice day but still have energy to treat yourself and enjoy the evening. I’m a fan.
What?! Doesn’t everybody do that?
I honestly find those sections of his books kind of comfy. If I “wrote what I know” about those days in my life the protagonist would wolf down a boiled chicken breast over the sink in complete silence.
I have read three Murakami books; 1Q84, Kafka on the shore, Norwegian Wood.
I loved 1Q84 so went directly into Kafka couldn’t read more than a few pages. I came back after a few months reading a few books. Kafka felt fresh and loved Murakami again.
Same happened with Norwegian Wood. I took some time between Kafk and it. And I loved it more.
Murakami is like a fever dream, you can’t stay there for long. You ve to come out of it, breath fresh air before you dive bck in.
It’s been a while since I’ve read murakami, but my impression has always been the journey was better than the destination. I remember the feeling of having finished the book, not quite sure what happened, but the remnants of a fever dream drifting about.
That’s exactly how I felt by Kafka on the Shore. I thought it was a really dreamy, surreal journey. Very unique kind of feel. I remember really liking it, to the extent that I thought he might be my new favorite author. But subsequent works I’ve tried to get into haven’t roped me in like that book unfortunately.
My personal hypothesis, again, having not read murakami in years，is that the storylines are so whimsical and unexplained that they all blend into each other. The first story is an adventure. The subsequent ones feel too similar to the first.
You ever read any Bolaño? Sounds like you wouldn’t enjoy it whatsoever, a lot of his characters go on and on about poets.
That does sound equally as torturous.
I always regarded it as him using Write What You Know as a way to counteract the intimidating blankness of a new project’s first page. The default setting for him to start off a story, in a quiet house in a quiet neighborhood, never too many people around. And Go!
It never bothered me, in fact I think the books sucked me in faster thanks to the default setting. It’s easy to get used to, I can always identify well enough with the main character.
Kafka did, but after that I’ve had trouble getting over that default setting time and time again. I still have Sputnik from the library, so I might push ahead and see if it lures me in, but I’m still annoyed by the repetitive use of the same motifs.
You can always try. It’s good that it’s almost immediately noticeable so you can quit the book as soon as the annoyance starts creeping in, without losing too much time on it. :)
My experience from two of his works is that he is fascinated by the west in the same way some westerners are fascinated by Japan as in the meme:
Thing -> boring face
Japanese thing -> face full of awe
Might be wrong though.
I remember abandoning my second Murakami book after another round of jazz, cats and whiskey.
I can understand the occasional reference, or encounter with a character who has those qualities. But almost every book with every main or supporting character gets to be ridiculous. “Meet Amami Tutsudo, she’s the owner of the local bakery known for her undying love for Chopin, her mind soars with his transcendent movements, which she plays while baking her acclaimed loaves of bread.”
And ears!
Guy wrote a book with a composer about music, so not shocking there. Surprised we don’t hear more about shirts and running.
Not surprising at all. He has the vibe of a 8 year old telling me,“by the way, did I ever tell you about how much I love MINECRAFT!,” over and over again. I suppose the thing that gets me is that I’ve never seen an author inject a personal interest in something in their work to this degree. I’ve read a few authors where you can kind of get a feel for certain things they like, but they usually aren’t so obvious and overt about putting those interests on blast. It’s just jarring to me.
