Literary Exploration discussion

Final thoughts

Was anyone else frustrated by the lack of description in this book? I found the author to be vague with every aspect of this book except his subtext.

It was the first Murakamis' book I gave 3 stars and I love his books. It's true there was something that frustrated me and I agree about the lack of description. After 100 pages I noticed that characters haven't real names. Did anybody else notice that?

I was getting annoyed with the pink girl being referred to as The Chubby Girl, it took me a while to pick up on them all being referenced to by their job or physical description.

I'm still not quite sure how I felt about this book. It was my first Murakami and he is a bizarre writer. The concept was interesting but the writing was a bit difficult to push through at times.

Although it is taking me forever to get through this book, I'm finding it immensely rewarding and likable. I'm still about 100 pages away from finishing, but am finding it very imaginative and fun, even if I'm not "getting" every aspect. I'm finding just the premise of alternate subconscious worlds (that the mad scientist explains to the narrator) to be the most confusing part, but it makes more sense as I read further.

I think the lack of names seems to add to the ambiguity of the two worlds and seems to coincide with the lack of memory that the narrator experiences. I was frustrated initially, but found it less so as I read on.

This is a book that is really dripping with symbolism of every kind. Definitely a different but interesting read.

My first impression (chapters 1-2) was that this is really mundane & bizarre even for Murakami, but it ended up being my favorite Murakami (along with 1Q84).
He deftly hits big points:
- what is real, what is important
- at what expense is intellectual property safe-guarded
- the arrogance of science in the guise of the benign 'old professor'
The end reminded me somewhat of The Little Prince, he had to leave to maybe go back.
I loved it !

Oh, my. This was a good one.

I completely lost myself reading it over the past couple days and have fallen asleep thinking about parts of it multiple nights in a row.

Somehow the repetitions between the two narratives/the occasional common elements let me predict the line of action just enough that when things did fall into place I found it sort of satisfying. Not to mention the prose was just utterly lovely and tended to sweep one away!

I probably read the last few pages more quickly than I meant to--with a friend waiting for me to finish 'the last four paragraphs!' before we dashed into a party we were a little late for; and I wasn't immediately certain, particularly as my high-heeled shoes plunged into a muddy lawn, what to make of it.

It certainly wasn't where the action seemed to have been leading--a daring plunge into a whirlpool however-artificially once again tied to his shadow--but the white bird soaring into the air is certainly an image associated with freedom, so maybe the ending isn't as negative as I immediately thought?

On one hand, he seems to making a choice to do something for another person--consciously forging a connection with someone else. In choosing to remain for his Librarian, be driven into the Woods with her. On the other, though, is he just choosing to remain locked even more permanently inside his emotional shell (since this is all inside his head)?