Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really did not like the beginning but the two woven narratives grew on me. Interesting but not great.

This is my 9th Murakami book and I think my favorite is still Norwegian Wood (honorable mentions to Wind-up Bird and After Dark).

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The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The writing is 5-star writing, but to me, the message of the book is 1-star. Noboru espouses a very non-Judeo-Christian view of the world, and while I am a student of languages, cultures, and foreign relations, a world view that privileges Greek and Roman-style daring and machismo above basic Golden Rule-type goodness -- is precisely the reason that I have become philosophically Christian. To my mind, the sailor Ryuji Tsukazaki is an admirable man. But to Noboru, and indeed likely to the author Yukio Mishima, he is soft and romantic and deserves what he gets. What a horror. Add to that the book's little dash of misogyny, like a cherry on top of the murder sundae.

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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the 8th Murakami book I've read and definitely in the top three for me along with Norwegian Wood and After Dark. The short of it is that Toru Okada is having some angst after leaving his legal job (I relate to that!) when things get very magically weird and his wife leaves him in mysterious circumstances. Interwoven with that is a bunch of truly horrific World War II stories from the perspective of Japanese soldiers in Mongolia, China, and Russia.

Beyond that, it's really difficult to explain what I think the book's deeper meaning is about. It's pretty complex; to give you a rough idea, it's very long and I can't actually think of any scenes that could have been cut. I pretty much always think editors should have slashed down long books. Unlike many Murakami novels, it actually mostly made sense even though it was full of literal magic. I wasn't prepared for such an in-depth exploration of violence, and I think this fantasy book also deserves a horror classification.


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Number9Dream by David Mitchell

Number9Dream by David Mitchell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I reserve “1 star” for books that are a net negative to the world. But I thought this book was a hot mess. I didn’t enjoy it at all, I thought it was unnecessarily confusing, meandering, and pointless.

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Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I feel like the allegorical lobster in the lobster pot. I love the way Murakami writes; it lulls me. That's probably why as this book got worse and worse I just kept right on cooking until I was almost at the end and realized what a big mistake I'd made. I'm puzzled over the good reviews.

Yes, there are some great sentences, mostly provided by Oshima who manages the library, but for me, they're insufficiently deep or life-changing to make up for the trainwreck of a plot. Yes, partly the plot is a retelling Oedipus, but the original story of Oedipus makes perfect sense even if it's outlandish. This is nonsensical, outlandish, and over-explained as a myth or analogy.

I also feel like it fails as a good fantasy book. First of all, I never appreciate it when the fantasy element of the story sneaks up on me, as this book starts out as magical realism and then all the sudden goes full low-fantasy ala American Gods with lots of characters over-explaining things that make no sense. More importantly, there are countless rules to the world that don't have any overarching concept. Perhaps it's a blend of Japanese mythology I'm unaware of, and even though I am familiar with the hungry ghost concept in Buddhism, and the magical powers of all objects of Shintoism, there's still a lot of randomnesses that isn't coming across to me.

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Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Murakami books are all over the place. It's not a consistent standard, and you can't predict if you'll like one based on the others you've read. But I enjoy how very readable his books are. I find myself flying through his books, even the ones I think are terrible. This was my favorite one I've read so far, but I still didn't love it-- the ending was especially bothersome to me, but I did love parts of it. At first you think, oh I hope this doesn't turn into a laundry list of who this vaguely boring male character sleeps with, and then for a second you think- oh it's so wonderful, it's about life, and loneliness, and death-- and then bam he hits you with his laundry list. But for the middle of the book, I give it 4 stars.

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Forest Bathing by Qing Li

Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness by Qing Li
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a short book, but it's chockful of information. I couldn't tell how strictly scientific the advice is but it seems worth a shot to connect with nature and give it a try. Since the author discusses a number of Japanese forests I think this book is especially helpful for someone living in or visiting Japan. There are also many tips that can be applied even if you're not in Japan though.

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A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is not the sexy Buddhist nun story it promises to be on the first few pages. That was a disappointment. It is also not the realistic story it promises to be for the first 60% of the book as it descends into magical realism madness. But I fell in love with the characters and any book that weaves mindfulness and physics into a narrative about time is likely to win me over.

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Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the 4th book in Murakami's Rat series and I read them all in order: Hear the Wind Sing, Pinball, A Wild Sheep Chase, and this one Dance Dance Dance. This is the best one of the series in terms of the plot making some sense, but Wind/Pinball is the best in terms of deep thoughts in the book. A Wild Sheep Chase was especially clumsy with the magical realism and Dance, Dance, Dance improves on this aspect, but it doesn't feel like it's enough to rescue the series. Overall, I wouldn't say it's a great series.

Didn't buy the whole Yumioshi "love" story in this either. (Not related to my review but the title has almost nothing to do with the book either which is a disappointment.)

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Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is pretty different than the other humor books I've read recently. It's not a humor memoir. Ansari discusses aspects of modern dating compared to dating a generation ago, and he did a lot of research and employed researchers to assist him. It's interesting on its own with discussions of psychology and economics, but it's also very funny.

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A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I guess I liked this okay though I'm not crazy about it. The other two books with these characters were not fantasy like this one was so the switch was strange. Though actually the ending of the book were the fantasy suddenly started was my favorite part of the three books for its discussion of human nature and weakness. Though I'm not certain if the decisions was that our weaknesses are actually good. Anyway, maybe I was missing something, but it didn't move me much.

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Wind/Pinball: Two Early Novels by Haruki Murakami

Wind/Pinball: Two Early Novels by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wind's first few chapters seem like a very unsophisticated attempt at a first novel. The rest of it is somewhat interesting. His friend Rat isn't very smart but he's at least an interesting and developed character. It's hard to even keep the story in your mind after reading it though. Let's say three stars?

Pinball, while more memorable, is terrible. Rat is again the best character. The main character isn't someone I can imagine or relate to in any way. Two stars?

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After Dark by Haruki Murakami

After Dark by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was trying to prepare for our trip to Japan... haha... maybe this isn't going to cover it.

The novel is written from a cinematic perspective, but it might be worth noting that the Japanese language itself sort of takes a big view first and then zooms in the way the scenes begin. For example, to say where I'm from I might say I'm from United States, New York, and then say my town. I think that makes more sense then the way we do it in English or Spanish.

It reminds me a lot of the movies Before Sunrise/ Before Sunset in that it's mostly conversation between two characters and it takes place in one night. Even the name sort of reminds me of those movies- After Dark. But "dark" might refer to the sordid background tale of the night, or the feelings the characters are dragging around. The examination of depression in Japan (where historically they did not have a concept of depression) is particularly interesting.

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Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Really entertaining, but left me kind of cold. The voice really sounds like that of a woman, and the time, place, and circumstances of the main character's life are really interesting. But there's a lack of depth to the story generally and also in the characters. I also didn't really enjoy the ending that much, though I think I should have as it's supposed to be liberating.

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The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Strange in that it's written in the first person plural point of view so no individual story is fully developed, but it is still powerful and moving. It's the story of a group of Japanese immigrant women and the most heart-breaking parts for me revolve around the children. After the Japanese are sent to the relocation camps the story changes perspective to the apathetic Americans left behind. The sin of apathy is laid bare.

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