Haruki Murakami fans discussion

Join me in reading The City and Its Uncertain Walls, eng tr by Phillip Gabriel for January in Japan month, Jan 2025

I Plan to join with you.
Thank you for taking lead on this

Phrodrick is determined to clear a growing backlog wrote: "I Plan to join with you.
Thank you for taking lead on this"

The GR Japanese Literature will also be reading this book in January 2025. A few friends are members of both groups. I have my copy now and am looking forward to the groups readings.

I think “The End of the World” story was reworked into this one. That was an influence on the author of one of my most favorite stories called Haibane Renmei Anime Manga Volume 1 by Yoshitoshi Abe and his unfinished dōjinshi manga series by Yoshitoshi Abe, The Haibanes of Old Home (オールドホームの灰羽達, Ōrudo-hōmu no Haibane-tachi).

We will start the group read Jan 2025.
Note: The GR Japanese Literature Forum has also selected this book as its Jan 2025 group read. There are a few of us in both groups.

Hi Phrodrick, Jack, I read the book last summer (the Dutch edition was released earlier) and had a great time reading through the story.

I got inspired to make some visual art pieces based on the rhythm of this book and a few more by Murkami. I'm not sure if they can contribute to a reading club, but they do give sense of the distribution of pages across chapters. If you are interested in my project, you can read more about it here: https://www.edriessen.com/app/haruki-...

I have my copy. Looking forward to this.

Notify has become mighty arbitrary so count me as someone who may miss some stops

I am clearing my reading queue for a 1 Jan start

Hi everyone! I was so happy to get the notificiation for this thread. I will be joining as well. I’ve been waiting so long for this book and I’m excited to read along with you guys!

I'll also join! I'm so excited to finally read this

Welcome all! It should be a good group read

I bought the book last week and cannot wait to read it!

I recently read, but would like to re-read and join the discussion!

Happy new year and happy reading

Happy reading! 🎉

I am closing in on the 1/2 way mark.
Anyone have a thought?

I probably wont be starting until early next week. I have to finish one other book first.

2/3 rds in :
I do not think it is a spoiler to point out that this begins as an almost page for page re-do of the even numbered chapters in Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and will be major plot elements from Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the Shore. To the good , there is now some motive for the MCC to be shorn of his shadow.
For the rest, I am not going to go too much into plot points as others may not be that far yet.

Speaking as a long time fan of Murakami, I am not sure I get why this book was written. I suspect that others, less committed to this writer will quit long before the 1/2 way mark and much of the middle third has me begging for something told, concluded or explained. Absent some something, it may be that for me the magic has gone out of Murakami

This was originally a short story he published in 1980. He expanded it into the 1985 novel, Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Much later he returned to the original material in the short story to expand the story 40 yrs later to write The City and its Uncertain Walls.

I also think there is a lot of reexamination of his themes in his stories.

Lit hub had an article on this:
https://lithub.com/haruki-murakamis-l...

One of my favorite series and manga, Haibane Renmei by Yoshitoshi Abe, was influenced by the original short story and, i think, the 1985 novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland. I am very interested in if I can see the influences in THe City and Hard-Boiled Wonderland…

Also, I will be looking for what might be common themes in Murakami stories (credit to Andy Murray):

Magical Realism (and the problems that it visits on his MCs),
Influences from the West,
The lonely and alienated lives of his (male) MCs,
Weird worlds that may be built to test the MCs (maybe this is futility vs hope),
Characters going down a well (figurative or real),
Food, cooking (and food),
Mysterious women (maybe a recurring plot device),
Cats! (And other animals but mainly cats),
Embedded stories about war (and Japan…),
And, of course, _Music_.

Finished.
I can only hope that this is not anyone's first taste of Murakami

I am about 25% through now. I really like the story and Peter Gabriel as a translator. Part may be remembered from Hard Boiled Wonderland. I think I will be reading the new translation of End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland: A New Translation in the next month or two.

I recently finished the book and really enjoyed it. One of the settings is the same as Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, but this is a very different book.

I am glad HM got around to reworking and finishing this story which was originally a short story product 40+ years ago. I liked it much better than Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I do plan to read the translation of the full version of that also this year.
I will come back and add comments after I think about the story with regards to the possible themes I noted in an earlier post.

I have mixed feelings about reading this book. Hard-Boiled Wonderland was the one and only book I gave up on part-way through. On the other hand, I haven't read a new Murakami book in a good long while. I'll have to see how much reading goes this year.

I’m sorry I just joined GR and didn’t see this thread until now! I started TCAIUW last month but other books got in the way and I’m only really getting into it now.

It does have a familiar sense of magical realism that Murakami is so famous for (and which I love so greatly) and I’m enjoying the weaving of the two stories/timelines … my only issue is that I made the mistake once again of listening to this on audible and I am having a really hard time with the narrator. I’ve had this issue with several other Murakami novels in the past (most notably (wind/pinball)… and I think I’m getting to the point that I can only read hard copies of his books.

Anyone else find this?

In any case, will check back in when I complete the novel and hopefully some of you will still be up for discussing it ☺️

Please return with your comments. As a fan of Murakami for many books, I hope some one can help me get passed my let down with this one.

There are several themes that could be explored. What struck me immediately as a romantic is the persistence of first love and the ramifications of unresolved hopes, desires, affection. I was reminded a little bit of Norwegian Wood. This is one of the uncertainties that drive the story. I don’t think there is a resolution or even a hope of resolution in the story.

Who is real; what is shadow? It seems to me that the images of the person, frozen timelessly within the wall, losing memories and dreams, are more likely soulless echos of the real. She is 15 forever. There is no time. The shadows seem more real and soulful than the lost images in the town.

Still reading but I just finished part 1 and I’m struck by how many similarities there are to The Giver (which I read a few days ago because my daughter is reading it in her class)… anyone else find this?

I have just started this for the second time. After the first read, I went back and listened to the newer, Random House, audiobook of Birnbaum translation of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I made some small comparisons with the new version translated by Rubin. I will read the new translation after this.

Jack wrote: "I have just started this for the second time. After the first read, I went back and listened to the newer, Random House, audiobook of Birnbaum translation of [book:Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the En..."

Gotta respect your dedication. I call myself a fan, but this is more , scholarly <?>

I just finished it. I read it very slowly and tried my best to buy into it, but Part 3 pushed me over the edge.
I love the way Murakami writes and I’m a big fan of most of his works, but I didn’t relate/care about the shadow being ripped and what was going on in the city. Too many random trippy characters and odd plot devices. I might have been more interested in the Dream Reading itself; what was going on there?, did I miss something?

Ann wrote: "I just finished it. I read it very slowly and tried my best to buy into it, but Part 3 pushed me over the edge.
I love the way Murakami writes and I’m a big fan of most of his works, but I didn’t..."

Thank you. I like the notion that I was not the only one.
All I can say in his defense is that Murakami is on record as resenting the way, specifically American readers expect stories to have, I for get, explanations, resolutions, or something like that. I get that he was struggling with this story, I have no feeling, that he moved this basic story forward much less solved its problems.

What a grey, pointless and dull world. I get that almost all of his male leads are colorless, but if that is the kind of world they want, the case for a colorless, shadow-less world is not here.

How about a reason why he makes so much about shadows, then allows his to die off, having saved it just at the brink. Need we form a campaign against the needless torture of disembodied shadows? (Ironic font)

Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog wrote: "Gotta respect your dedication. I call myself a fan, but this is more , scholarly <?>"

Yes, this is definitely turned into an academic rabbit whole for me. I had a friend write me that I should read Who We're Reading When We're Reading Murakami. Chapter three is about the translation of Hard-boiled Wonderland, the original novella for The City, and about translation issues/items between Birnbaum and come comments from Rubin.

I have read a bit of the essays and will come back to them later. What has been motivating me is the linkage between this works and a work of Yoshitoshi Abe. Another friend wrote about the relationship between the Murakami works above and a short film of Makoto Shinkai's titled "Enclosed World". Makoto Shinkai is a favorite director of mine.

trying to chase that part of your thread, I get
Enclosed World
Written by Chryssopoulos Christos
any relationship?
From IMDB

Enclosed World (1998)
Full Cast & Crew
See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro
Directed by
Makoto Shinkai
Writing Credits (in alphabetical order)
Haruki Murakami ... (novel)
Makoto Shinkai
Music by
Tenmon
Cinematography by
Makoto Shinkai

I think I found a clip very short

I wasn't fully sold on this one as I have been on some of his earlier works. TBH with the last few books I've just felt that he indulged a bit too deeply and should have been more succinct to move the story along.

Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog wrote: "trying to chase that part of your thread, I get
Enclosed World
Written by Chryssopoulos Christos
any relationship?
From IMDB

Enclosed World (1998)
Full Cast & Crew
See agents for this cast & cre..."

Yes it is very short. Here is a wiki article about the director. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makot...
I first ran into his work when I saw She and her Cat. I read She and Her Cat: Stories last year and reread the manga from the original film.

Here is the Abe work, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiba...
And the artist Yoshitoshi Abe: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshi...
ABe’s sketchbook has several drawings of the walled city.

It is interesting for me to follow the threads of influence from Murakami’s work and the challenge of translation. In addition to how kokoro is translated as either “mind” or “heart”, there is the issue of how translators handle “I” since it has various forms in Japanese and it is meaningful in Murakami’s original text. https://theconversation.com/haruki-mu...

From NPR, Nov 2024:
First interview with Murakami on his new novel 'The City and its Uncertain Walls'

https://www.npr.org/2024/11/11/nx-s1-...

Jack wrote: "From NPR, Nov 2024:
First interview with Murakami on his new novel 'The City and its Uncertain Walls'

Thanks for posting that link. Great interview.

Jack wrote: "From NPR, Nov 2024:
First interview with Murakami on his new novel 'The City and its Uncertain Walls'

https://www.npr.org/2024/11/11/nx-s1-......"

Thank you for posting!

"I've never thought of my writing style as surrealistic, or as magical realism. I simply write the stories that I want to write, and in a style that suits me."

Wow! So interesting!

When Murakami came to participate in the Louisiana Literature Festival here in Denmark in 2023, we (the audience) were given the opportunity to ask him questions. I asked him about just that, i.e. how he related to magical realism. He responded in a somewhat similar way. "Some people call my work for magic realism. They're wrong. My books are simply Murakamism. No magic. Just simple Murakamism. That's all. Reviewers enjoy categorizing a style and pigeonholing it, right? But I have my own way of writing fiction. It's not like anything else. People, especially in the US and in Western Europe also say that Garcia Marquez' books are magic realism, but I don't think that's what they are. They're his realism."

Erik wrote: "Hi Phrodrick, Jack, I read the book last summer (the Dutch edition was released earlier) and had a great time reading through the story.

I got inspired to make some visual art pieces based on the ..."

Hi Erik, I checked your "shoji data visualisation", I like your idea for this slow progress of the animation

Ag, Thanks for joining the HK forum. Glad to see you here.