Hey, anyone here ever read any of Haruki Murakami? books? I've just wrapped up reading two of his early novels Norwegian Wood & A Wild Sheep Chase and two of his short story books Elephant Vanishes & After the Quake. Such brilliantly deadpan treatment as the mediocre slips into the surreal. Highly recommended.
Yeah, I love Murakami as well. All of his books have a twist to it. I've read Norwegian Wood, Hard Boiled Wonderland & the end of the World, South of the Borders West of the Sun, and Sputnik Sweatheart. I forgot he wrote Elephant Vanishes. But I've enjoyed reading all of his stuff so much, except for the short story. Didn't really find that one all that interesting. I plan on reading more of his stuff.
What did you think of Norwegian Wood's ending? I was satisfied with it & wished I could have seen more of the main character and the girl starting a relationship.
I read that last page of Norweigen Wood over quite a few times. But I think I liked the ending ? it left the whole thing hanging. It could of gone either way. Nevertheless, it took me a fair while to convince myself that it was a potentially happy ending and that it wasn't just a metaphor for the main character's ultimate abandonment and isolation. (Then I started thinking about that "trapped in a glass case of emotion" bit from Anchorman: Legend of Ron Burgundy and that was it, the spell was broken).
I'm going to track down Sputnik Sweetheart and start reading them in anti-chronological order I think. That way I'll end up back on Hard Boiled Wonderland (until the next one's translated), which is universally considered a winner.
Yeah, I think it is a "happy ending" as well. I still sad though since it was like saying goodbye to the other characters, knowing that the main character guy would be moving on. You know, right after I read this thread, I started looking for Murakami books and I got Wild Sheep Chase for .99 cents
No one was bidding on it.. probably because it just had his last name and the other items the seller was selling were all gun related.
I thought Sputnik Sweetheart was the most "normal" of Murakami's stuff I ever read. But it still has that surreal mood to it.