Murakami's 1Q84 is a Heavyweight - The Millions

[John Bailey]

I love Murakami but understand why people find nothing in his writing. I
think he generates moods rather than thoughts, so if you don't dig the mood
there's not much else to enjoy there. He tends to write instinctively and
doesn't plot out his novels, just sits down and writes 'em, so they don't
really progress in a structurally satisfying way. But he's the only writer
who can make listening to jazz tolerable to me.

On the other hand, I can highly recommend the Other Murakami, Ryu Murakami.
His "Piercing" is a brilliant black comedy that would prob appeal to a lot
of Pynchon readers - a young father finds himself gripped by fantasies of
murdering his baby with an ice-pick, so decides to go out and kill a
prostitute to ease the pressure. Like I say, it's a comedy. His "In the Miso
Soup" is also a great read, following a young Tokyo sex tour guide who is
employed by an American serial killer to show him the sights.

On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 10:28 AM, Bruce Appelbaum <brucea at bestweb.net>wrote:

> there's no accounting for taste ...
>
>
> *Bruce*
>
> *
>
> "If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry
> about answers."
>
> *
>        --- Thomas Pynchon
>
>
>
>
>
> On May 28, 2009, at 4:38 PM, Daniel Julius wrote:
>
> On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 10:25 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I have read Murakami's [...] _Wind-Up Bird
>> Chronicles_, and I think both are way over-rated.  Lot's of
>> magic/mysticism that is pointless and dead-ending and trite
>> resolutions to extended mysteries.
>
>
>
> Completely agree w/ Mr. Morris.  Still cannot understand the overwhelming
> adoration for this fellow.
>
>
> --
> Dan
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20090529/ea226252/attachment-0001.html>