Has anybody read 1Q84, or other works by Haruki Murakami? I always hear/see it mentioned in Japan. What kind of impression do some of you with different backgrounds have of the books, and which would you recommend reading first?

And of course how is it as a Japanese learning resource?

I've not read it yet, but I've read Norwegian Wood (Amazing) and Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Also Amazing), I have a to read pile with two murakami books on it, though I read the english editions I'm considering getting a Japanese copy of ノルウェイの森 depending on the difficulty level, anybody read it in Japanese?

As for IQ84, an english translation has been announced for September 2010, strangely enough that's just the first two volumes translated by Jay Rubin, the third volume will be translated by someone else and released later.

I'm sure as a learning resource the native books are great to get to grips with contemporary novel writing style and maybe see some rare kanji

As for recommendations, I'd go with Norwegian Wood first, it's not too long and it's a beautiful story, though asking which Murakami Novel to start with is akin to asking which Stephen King to read first, everybody will give you a different answer.

meolox Wrote:I'm sure as a learning resource the native books are great to get to grips with contemporary novel writing style and maybe see some rare kanji

I'm hoping and fearing this at the same time . I spent most of my Japanese reading news, RPGs, manga, and recently textbooks. I've never tried reading a fiction novel before, so it's all unknown for me. If it's anything like English, there's going to be a lot of infrequently used words in there!

ノルウェイの森 is less than 100 yen on amazon used now (and/or I'll take a look for it at BookOff). I think 1Q84 is only in hardback currently, which is a huge minus for me. (Not to mention it's still expensive!)

1Q84 was the #1 seller in Japan this year, so there should be a ton of copies at Bookoff before long. I was planning on reading some Murakami soonish, but got roped into Kanken instead :/

There are only 2 volumes for 1Q84, aren't there?

I'm working my way through chapter 3 right now. But I'm reading it a lot slower than I should be. One chapter every few months... Not a difficulty problem, more like, no enthusiasm? Reading Japanese is the pits, especially since I read English so fast.

I've just started ノルウェイの森. (Second one of his I've read in Japanese -- スプートニクの恋人 was the first.)

For difficulty level: scroll to the bottom of this page for the first paragraph of スプートニクの恋人 to get some idea of it (there are some other authors there too for comparison). I find Murakami a more difficult read than (say) Yoshimoto Banana, partly because of this sort of longer descriptive or metaphorical passage. So I'm not sure I'd recommend him as the first author to try in Japanese (although of course if you're a fan already then "read what you enjoy" overrules that).

If you buy the Japanese version of ノルウェイの森, be aware that at least some editions are split into two volumes (marked 上 and 下 in the usual convention), so make sure you don't end up with only half the novel :-)

If you haven't read any fiction before and you're not too sure about your reading speed, you might like to try starting with a book of short stories.

Interesting thread, I finished reading the wind up bird chronicle yesterday in English, and I missed maybe 2 words in the entire thing - something that doesn't happen when I read adult fiction, even Stephen King uses rare words sometimes.

Is the style as simple in the rest of his books and in Japanese? Or is it just the translation?

I read that the wind-up bird chronicle in English is an adapted work - it is missing chapters, and so on.

if you're interested in murakami, you should read some of his short stories. he has a few collections... the one about kangaroos is good.

shorts stories and "short-shorts" are great introductions to fiction. check out these others authors:

atsuhiro yoshida
hoshi shinichi
takashi atoda

stories range from 1-20 pages. nice stuff, and not too difficult.

I've never read any of Murakami's books before (in any language), so I'm not a fan. However, I've always wanted to try out the books. I'm pretty sure my Japanese level is high enough to work my way into novels, but I think it'll be a little rough at the start. I have to move past news/fact and dialog based Japanese eventually!

I flipped through 1Q84 at a book store, and found it surprisingly easy to follow. However I think I'll check out some of Murakami's older works which are cheaper and paperback first. I've always liked small books I can carry around all the time, but 1Q84 was like a brick!

Unrelated to Murakami's books; I scored 狼と香辛料 book 1 for 100 yen. I have no idea what it's about, but I heard it's good. I love used book stores in Japan.

I own both 1Q84 and Norwegian Wood in Japanese. Norwegian Wood, to me, seems a lot easier read, but I've only read the first few pages of 1Q84.

Of course, neither are easy reads, I wouldn't go Norwegian Wood after children manga hoping to understand much, but I find it to be a good start when getting into real Japanese novels.

My favorite of his is South of the Border, West of the Sun which I read in English a few months back and I'm reading in Japanese right now. I've read a few others in English and picked up ノルウェイの森 and a few others before I left Japan a few weeks ago. Wind up Bird was great in English but I think would be a bit much for me in Japanese right now. It's quite long...

I read 1Q84 when it came out this summer because of its novelty value and have even written about it somewhere on this forum. I have never been a fan of Murakami, actively dislike all of his characters and found this book particularly tedious and devoid of any meaning beyond mystical crap. There was no real ending (after 1,050 pages!), it's way too long with endless unnecessary repetitions. And he's even writing a third book - someone's gotta stop him, please! Never ever will I touch his fiction again.

Having said that, from the language point of view, I have learnt a thing or two. The main thing was demonstrating to myself that I can get through 1,050 pages in a reasonable amount of time.

For a detailed review (which I mostly agree with), check out the "Howtojaponese" blog, or the same article on the "Neojaponisme" website.

I've never read any Murakami, but wouldn't it make sense that there is no ending since you've only read two of the three volumes?

Somehow I got the impression that the first two books were supposed to be a complete story. Evidently, that was wrong.

TGWeaver Wrote:if you're interested in murakami, you should read some of his short stories. he has a few collections... the one about kangaroos is good.

Do you know any good places to find Murakami's short stories in Japanese?

Many of Murakami's short stories are or have been published for free in English, for example on the New Yorker magazine website and other places. Does anyone have any links to where any of his short stories might have been published in Japanese?

I picked up the kangaroo one today for 105yen..

There's some short Haruki Murakami stories at the White Rabbit Press site.
http://www.whiterabbitpress.com/search.p...b419f8a8a1
I'm a fan, but I've only read Haruki Murakami in English. I'd like to give the original Japanese a try someday.

I thought that After Dark, A Wild Sheep Chase, and The Elephant Vanishes were excellent in English, too. I haven't read any of his stuff in Japanese yet... eventually, though....

Edit: Oh, and after the quake was also really good.

old thread, but thought I'd ask...

I've read about 160 pages of wind up bird chronicle now in japanese, and it's boring me to tears. _Nothing_ interesting in the slightest has happened, except for the encounters with the schoolgirl via the alley. Is the whole book like this?

torokun Wrote:old thread, but thought I'd ask...

I've read about 160 pages of wind up bird chronicle now in japanese, and it's boring me to tears. _Nothing_ interesting in the slightest has happened, except for the encounters with the schoolgirl via the alley. Is the whole book like this?

It is kind of like this, yeah. Although all kinds of stuff start happening, still, this book is with a very slow pace. It was a very interesting read in english, but as you are probably still learning new japanese words and read slowly, I would recommend you to read it when you have a very good grasp of japanese.

jettyke Wrote:

torokun Wrote:old thread, but thought I'd ask...

I've read about 160 pages of wind up bird chronicle now in japanese, and it's boring me to tears. _Nothing_ interesting in the slightest has happened, except for the encounters with the schoolgirl via the alley. Is the whole book like this?

It is kind of like this, yeah. Although all kinds of stuff start happening, still, this book is with a very slow pace. It was a very interesting read in english, but as you are probably still learning new japanese words and read slowly, I would recommend you to read it when you have a very good grasp of japanese.

No, it's surprisingly easy to read and I read quickly -- it's just boring.

torokun Wrote:old thread, but thought I'd ask...

I've read about 160 pages of wind up bird chronicle now in japanese, and it's boring me to tears. _Nothing_ interesting in the slightest has happened, except for the encounters with the schoolgirl via the alley. Is the whole book like this?

I forget at what point, but if you keep reading, you will find that the story turns into quite the surrealist literature. I found the story rather enjoyable, though I stopped after volume 2 due to other responsibilities piling up. Norwegian Wood, on the other hand, I found to be dry from beginning to end and my wife (who's a huge Murakami fan) shares my low opinion of the book. I guess it's good if you're interested in emo romance.

The wind-up bird doesn't pick up, but a bunch of funky things happen. When they get to the war stories you'll be like wtf... I find that his books rely a lot on vivid imagery and surrealism.

@torokun
You may find 'Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World' less boring. The story alternates every chapter b/n two sub-plots that eventually join at the end.

Kafta on the Shore, on the other hand is boring, and gets progressively more boring.

Recipe for creating a Murakami novel:

• Marinade a lb of incoherent plot in three cups of awkward sex scenes.
- Brand with large age differences in the couple is preferred. Sex Between Family Members brands can be found at specialty stores.

• Sprinkle four tbsps of unexplained-mysticism-used-simply-to-give-the-novel-the-illusion-of-containing-depth.

• Sear the marinaded incoherent plot in dry dialogue for five minutes, until the average prose is crisp. Proceed to bake at 100 degrees for weeks straight, simply to drag out the story as unnecessarily long as possible.

Yum yum!

Aijin Wrote:Recipe for creating a Murakami novel:

• Marinade a lb of incoherent plot in three cups of awkward sex scenes.
- Brand with large age differences in the couple is preferred. Sex Between Family Members brands can be found at specialty stores.

• Sprinkle four tbsps of unexplained-mysticism-used-simply-to-give-the-novel-the-illusion-of-containing-depth.

• Sear the marinaded incoherent plot in dry dialogue for five minutes, until the average prose is crisp. Proceed to bake at 100 degrees for weeks straight, simply to drag out the story as unnecessarily long as possible.

Yum yum!

Sounds about right. Think I'll try this recipe if I ever write the next ,great novel.