The Forbidden Worlds of Haruki Murakami

This is excellent book for fans of Haruki Murakami, especially for those that write. The author gives an explanation for Murakami's plots, and I thought it was an interesting read.

Fast shipping and nicely packaged is always a plus.

For self reading. It’s great!

Great book for those who want to dive deeper into Murakami's works. Not as accessible as others I've read about him, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless.

The book advertised with a dust jacket cover with a cat on it. When it arrived today, there was no dust jacket cover. This was really misleading. Very disappointed.

Somewhat academic but nice book, A++ seller

All Murakami readers should read this!

There is a variety of information here, but don't expect to be walking into an algebra or geometry level class. This is differential equationsat times! An interesting aspect that was brought out is the fact that Murakami has done many, many translations of books from English into Japanese

smart book

Great breakdown of the elements that make up murakami's stories.

Having read about a dozen translations of Murakami, I approached this book with a great deal of interest. It is a contribution to the growing body of criticism (praise?)/commentary on Murakami's writing, along with Jay Rubin's "Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words" (which I also liked). The present book is more aimed at an academic audience, although it can be appreciated by a general readership, whereas Rubin's book was self-admittedly a "fan's" perspective on Murakami. The general reader may find the first and second chapters of the Strecher book, which are perhaps more oriented to literary critics, less appealing than the rest. I personally enjoyed the chapter on Murakami as a literary journalist as well as the extended review of "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki."While Strecher effectively presents many of Murakami's literary themes/devices (use of dreams/the unconscious (e.g. basement/tunnels/wells/"over there"), I have yet to see among critics an effective analysis of what I consider one of the major turning points in Murakami's approach: namely, the sharp break from a tradition of very weak female characters (think of "Norwegian Wood" or "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle") to a very strong female role (e.g. a female assassin in "1Q84" (Aomame) supported by a wealthy patron (the Dowager) equally committed to the cause of eliminating men who abuse women). Similarly, in "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki", it is Tsukuru's girlfriend, Sara, who propels the main character to address the causes of his rupture with his four "colourful" friends during their youth. I would very much like to see an assessment of the significance of Murakami's new approach, especially considering that "1Q84" was intended to be (and was) his comprehensive novel.

Este libro contiene información muy interesante para comprender mejor los libros de Haruki Murakami y el mundo que los rodea.