Rating: 
Summary: Murakami continues to astound
Review: I have always preferred Hiruki Murakami's novels to his short stories, simply because the table he sets is best enjoyed slowly, over a long period of time. Murakami is one of the best voices in literature in the last decade of the 20th Century and the first decade of the 21st.
Rating:
Summary: Read it twice, and now I'm reading it again
Review: Basicly, this is a great book that balances a almost contradictory makeup. Murakami's tale is fantastic, but manages to remain suprisingly subtle. Murakami's prose are very simple, yet his story is incredibly strange and hardly easily understood. His main character is a regular guy who becomes part of a very bazarre experience. This work is a synthesis of many beautiful thing and, though it does get a little long (its not a quick read; its a saga), Murakami manages to balance them all.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Idea That Just Doesn't Cut It
Review: This was the second book I had read by Murakami, the first being "A Wild Sheep Chase", which I loved. As such it seemed natural to pick up something else by him, and so one day I encountered this work. Having considered "A Wild Sheep Chase" to be a fun, entertaining and in some ways thoughtful -- if not too thoughtful -- novel, I was expecting another story in a similar vein.However, I found myself walking away from this thinking it was something of a waste of time. The disappointment was not the result of having found it to be too different from what I had liked in the other book; in fact, there were several similarities between them (both involve complex searches for things and people as the key plot, for example). Yet this missed the mark. First of all, I would point out that I found this to be an overly long novel. There is something to be said for brevity: not that an author must abide by that as a rule, but too many turns can lead to several hundred pages of confusing side stories. Looking back, several of the side stories were completely irrelevant, and I would consider them to be better off as seperate, non-related short stories. Since they are connected, however, we are left with a narrative that is jumbled, awkward and very confusing. Occasionally being jumbled can be a good thing, but for a novel this long it tends to take away from the story. (For those who are interested, this was also a problem I had with Banana Yoshimoto's "Amrita", whose earlier works I had also found to be very impressive -- interesting to note, isn't it?) Secondly, the story tends to focus on things that I feel are more meant to shock or impress the reader rather than really add to the story. There are several descriptions and scenes throughout the book of graphic sex and violence, for example, that I just didn't feel worked well with the story. There is no problem with sex and violence where sex and violence is necessary, but I got the distinct impression while reading this that their graphic descriptions were more made for the shock benefit than from a deep necessity in the plot. This also takes away from any thoughtful points within the story because it draws attention away from things which would be considered more important or relevant. This goes for other aspects of the story: certain characters seem to be there more for the idea of what they are rather than their actual help in bringing the story out. Overall, my lasting impression of the book was that the story itself was an interesting one, which deserved a far better presentation than the one given to it within this book. Murakami's skill is shown within the skeleton of the story, and within his actual writing (and compliments must be given to the translator in kind), but overall the story becomes confused and overburdened with too many conflicting ideas that take away from the storyline. However, I do say stick with Murakami; I decided to take another chance with him myself, and read "Norwegian Wood", and that more than made up for any problems within this book.
Rating:
Summary: A must read, a look into modern Japanese life
Review: I was thinking about this book for days after I'd finished, a Japanese Magus. I'm reading all Murakami's books after this one
Rating:
Summary: candy
Review: Maybe a little heavier candy than you're used to, but definitely head candy.
Rating: 
Summary: Four and three quarters stars!
Review: WOW. The author guides you through a complex plot with great literary skill. Many of the characters are fascinating and the plot is interwoven with their individual stories. If you simply read the account of Lieutenant Mamiya and the chucked the rest of the book, it would be worth it. But read the whole thing, for Mr. Murakami is a master storyteller. I know this is one book I'll read again and gain completely new insights as I do.
Rating:
Summary: A journey into the human mind
Review: This was a fantastic book...from start to finish
Rating:
Summary: A journey into the human mind
Review: This was a fantastic book...from page to page it constintly made you think. This is the second of his books that i've read and have enjoyed both.
Rating: 
Summary: Portentious Pretentious Japanese Stephen King
Review: HM is a genius in much the way SK is, but so is my illiterate great uncle--he spins a good story, but he hardly registers on any literary scale. I admit that I liked this book, but it is a guilty pleasure, like becoming extremily excited at two-dimensional females or drinking too much or eating a full pint of New York Super Fudge Chunk. And just like drinking, masturbating, and eating full-fat ice-cream an inner voice can often be heard saying, "stop, this is not what you should be doing now," or for those with a more religiously brimstonish inclination, "you are going to hell!" And just as I usually finish my solitary endeavors, I finished this book. A fun and guilty pleasure, but devoid of enlightenment, well, it has as much enlightenment as seeing the bottom of a bottle--do not underestimate this. Fine and good, but the real problems with this book are, like King, its bad writing. Two problems stand out: (and these are both mistakes that even literate high-schoolers fail to make) 1: pop-references that look like pop-references. If you can fit in an allusion to gilligan's Island, good for you. But make sure it does something besides show that you've heard of GI (I guess this stuff is cool in Japan). 2: say it once, not twice, and not three times, and not three or more times in italics. Murakami ain't no Pynchon nor Mishima But I think, and hope it's not true, that one can see, just as one can see American culture, especially through 'bad'-pop stuff, certain recurring elements common to Japanese culture. 1: Foriegners and racial groups, other than Japanese, smell bad. (this may be true, but think about this hypothetical sentence: "he was a large man with coal dark leathery skin, he smelled like a caged animal, of course, this must be an African...") 2: Japan still fails to face up to its actions in WWII. The Japanese soldiers appear as unwilling, compassionate, professionals forced into killing by the barbarism of those sneeky Chinese and those pink faced evil commie Russians. 3: An odd super-materialism that would make an American Yuppy blush. 4: a proclivity to blend sex with sado-masochism. 5: an (honest) appreciation for under-age females (most older American men may want to have sex with a 16 yr old, but they ain't gonna tell anyone about it)
Rating:
Summary: A great novel about the Japanese psyche
Review: I am definitely a great fan of Japanese culture, and this is by far the most interesting novel I have read about Japan. I can't read Japanese, but I am 100% sure that this is a superb translation, since at all moments I felt I was reading a wonderful work of art, in its purest possible form. The plot is unusual and interesting, the charachters are very well drawn, the dialogue is interesting. It is also an "idea" novel, but it doesn't become boring or heavy-going. On the contrary, as the novel advances you become more and more involved in the subtle plot and subplots, until you're dying to know what's going to happen in the end. The end is exquisite, as well, and leaves you at just the right point of satisfaction. A definite must-read.
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