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smel123's review against another edition
4.0
If you love Murakami this is definitely worth a read. The man is a literary genius and Rubin's book certainly highlights this.
jacimccon's review against another edition
5.0
This book was a stunning overview of Murakami's work and influences. It made me want to learn how to read Japanese so that I can experience the full body of his work (as much of it has not been translated into English. Kudos to Jay Rubin.
r_evol's review against another edition
4.0
A really nice book with concise analysis of all of Murakami's works. It also provides some great context regarding Murakami's style and influences. However, I would recommend reading it after reading all his novels, as there are spoilers for the majority of them. This meant I skipped past the Dance Dance Dance section, which I will be coming back to after reading the novel.
trilobiter's review
4.0
My only real regret regarding this book is that I haven't read more Murakami. As of today I've only read Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World, Norwegian Wood, and Kafka on the Shore. I probably got the most out of Rubin's analysis of those three novels; I don't think the others were necessarily spoiled for me, though.
I particularly enjoyed following Murakami's journey of discovering what it meant for him to be a writer, particularly a writer of novels in contemporary Japanese. He really is a remarkable individual, with an imagination that ought to be treasured by the whole world.
There's an appendix at the end that discusses the complications involved in translating Japanese to English and other languages, which I found interesting especially because Rubin himself is a translator of some of Murakami's works. I would have found it interesting either way, but it's fun when Rubin drops the scholar face and geeks out a little bit.
I particularly enjoyed following Murakami's journey of discovering what it meant for him to be a writer, particularly a writer of novels in contemporary Japanese. He really is a remarkable individual, with an imagination that ought to be treasured by the whole world.
There's an appendix at the end that discusses the complications involved in translating Japanese to English and other languages, which I found interesting especially because Rubin himself is a translator of some of Murakami's works. I would have found it interesting either way, but it's fun when Rubin drops the scholar face and geeks out a little bit.
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