LoT Book CLub - Book 2 - Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

[Not Afraid]

I don't read Japanese and love every single Murakami I've read (I think I'm up to 8), so I'm grateful for any translation. To me, it seems very natural as to what I've experienced visiting contemporary Japan, but I read for visuals and overall story more than I read for language - although language has a lot to do with my enjoyment. I'm just not very interesting in writing in a craft as much as storytelling as a craft.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

\I read for visuals and overall story more than I read for language - although language has a lot to do with my enjoyment. I'm just not very interesting in writing in a craft as much as storytelling as a craft.

And I'm more a "the story is IN the telling," kind of girl. I can love an idea even if I don't care too much for how it's expressed. But I will be left wishing it was expressed differently.

Take "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and Bladerunner (the film it's based on) for example. The story, in both, is essentially the same, and I LOVE the story. But the film does a much better job at telling the story than Philip K. Dick does, IMO. That's usually not the case with most film adaptations, but I think the screenplay is superior to Dick's writing in a lot of ways.

It's like folk tales, as well. One version of the same folk tale can be a marvel, and another can be a bore. It's all in the telling.

So, though I love the story in The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, I'm sure I'd prefer reading it in its original Japanese, or reading an improved English translation. If he's written a book in English, I'd certainly be curious to read that.