Compelling Story

The story made me feel good, worried, uncomfortable at times. It made me laugh in Public.
Beautifully written.

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3 people found this helpful

Freudian Slip? Eros IS Murakami’s superego

I want to start by saying, I used to LOVE Haruki Murakami novels…read them all, even Pinball (not quite as intriguing) and the one he wrote about running. I am drawn in by the cerebral twists and turns, as if one could, we imagine the journeys in detail. Even the descriptions of meals comfort and soothe amidst the chaos or toiling turbulent ethos of the narrative.

I started this audio read by detesting the reader’s voice. I thought it was just a bad day, but then realized it was the submissive, coy portrayal of the female characters in the book that grated on my nerves.

Next I started seeing what my younger self didn’t like in parts of his other novels, the sexualization of all his female characters - more as objects of curious interest or obsession, than characters who have equal richness (not merely additive or addictive presence for the benefit) to the main character. After reading 3/4 of the book, I couldn’t help but compare Murakami’s writing to Irving. It is like masterbation on the page. There is a distant self-righteousness; a disdain in his unaffected questioning of others on some sort of superior (definitely not moral) higher ground.

Now I am compelled to go back to my favourite Hardboiled Wonderland at the End of the World and Kafka on the Shore with new eyes. Will it be worth the trip? No audio read for that journey, thank you very much.

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Ignorant narrator, but good acting

narrator tries to get French names and other musicians from other countries correct, on the other hand he gets the most important name wrong. it's pronounced wa ta na beh, not wa ta na beee

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2 people found this helpful

Incredible story but irritating narration

Joy Chancer’s voice grated on me the more I progressed. He does this squeaky high-pitched voice every time he reads the dialogue of a female character and it really made the recording difficult to listen to. In terms of the novel itself, Murakami is incredible and I really enjoyed listening to the book except for the annoyingly rendered female dialogue.

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Hmmm

Are the themes life and death or sex and death? Interesting treatment of mental health.

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2 people found this helpful

Dark but fascinating story

Excellent story and Toru, the main character and narrator is very relatable. He is real, honest and just trying to get by in a strange world. It’s quite a dark book and many of the characters are living very troubled lives. But it’s a meaningful book and the way he questions life and things that happen is very profound. Highly recommend.

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Disgusting

I was in the mood for one of murakamis surrealist novels. this was not one of them. This novel has none of the comforts of his other books it reads like something teenage boy would write. He portrays his female characters as either crazy or unbearably annoying. One of them he describes as an old lady (she is 40) as having a wrinkled body and face but with the "tits of a little girl". The sexual descriptions are really disgusting. There is no surrelism in this book just filth and annoyance. I would not waste my time with this one it will just colour the rest of his work in a bad light.

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