Why is IQ84 considered Murakami's worst book?

This. Wind-Up Bird is Murakami at his absolute peak, and it's a shame that he'll probably never write something like it again. I still can't get over the Lt. Mamiya and well scenes.

why is south of the border so hated here? It was my first Murakami and I liked it a lot then. haven't reread it since tho

haruki succed you lol

The characters were pretty bad, to the point of being outright annoying. I only read the first part but the plot was pretty shit too.

They certainly were mesmerizing and interesting to read but what purpose did they have for the story? I only read wind up bird chronicles and Kafka on the shore and both times I ended up with a lot of loose ends and nothing to connect them with.

I personally found it way, way too long. He repeats himself constantly and he elaborates on every point to the point where, after reading it once, I felt as if I'd just read the same book thrice. You could open this book on page 400 and still see him harping on the same idea he introduced 300 pages earlier.
Also fuck books about books/writers. Can't be done well, period.

He didn't finish it. That's one issue. The Little People? Finished without resolution. Was Air Chrysalis real, as Aomame suspected? Unresolved.

What is Murakami's best work?

I personally believe Norwegian Wood and A Wild Sheep Chase to be the best, but I may be mistaken.

I believe it's a pointless book. Nothing about it really sticks with you once you're done reading, there is no discussione of morals, just a costantly moody atmosphere, with the usual sex scene pulled out of nowhere.

Dude who can read Japanese here, currently a little more than halfway through Memeakami's latest-- Killing Commendatore Still a lot of time to get a bingo, lads.

If you guys want spoilers I can spill the beans thus far.

This

Everything ive read by Murakami after Wind-up Bird has just been dissapointing.

Honest question, does the frequent and awkward sex scenes in his books have any secret meaning behind them? Are they used as allegories?

Whoops forgot to add. Wind-Up Bird and Hard Boiled are his best I think. Commendatore has been disappointing but le absorption meme is still in play. It is undeniably comfy as overused as that word has become on Veeky Forums. But all of Murakami's books are comfy if nothing else.

Just tell me what do you think of the book so far, is it on the same level as his best works?

It is definitely not on the same level as his best works at least as far as being done with volume 1.

At its worst, it is the memes pushed more shamelessly and/or in lazier ways then he did the memes before.

At its best it manages to be as absorbing as anything he has written and does take some real narrative risks for a book of its length. This could also be the first Murakami novel that would have to necessarily actually take place in Japan--maybe. Still not sure about final judgement on that but there has been at least a surface scraping in some instances of particularly Japanese identity and psyche, however small.

I'm 600 pages in with 400 still left to go. So jury is still officially out for fairness' sake.

What are the main themes of the book? How was the japanese reception (public and critics) to the book?

He just writes them in when he gets horny and you know the Japanese don't get a lot of sex.

>What are the main themes of the book?

Standard Murakami...Loss and Seeking. But I would say that this one has a heavy element of Conscious Renewal. In other Murakami books the MC usually loses and then seeks what was lost in a literal and/or figurative sense, and then maybe learns something about himself. In this the MC is actively looking to renew and find himself from the get go, and is not seeking what was lost in any literal sense, just using that current position as a catalyst for self change.

>How was the japanese reception (public and critics) to the book?

Well it sold really well as usual. Lines and all that usual stuff. I think the critical reaction was pretty standard, it's not as good as his best-- that Murakami has become stagnant and derivative. This book in particular was blasted by the far right in Japan because it brings up and acknowledges the Nanking Massacre, but that's a non point.

Mamiya and Toru are very similar in certain ways, and I think that's, in part, the importance of the Manchuria scenes.

In a way, I'd argue that Lt. Mamiya is the worst possible outcome of not overcoming depression or a particular type of block in life. Most of Toru's feelings of alienation result from a depression that started after Kumiko's abortion, when he has his first acute meeting with pain (a concept that is personified by the guy with the fire at the bar). Eventually, Toru manages to overcome those life problems, and at a veey young age nonetheless. Lt. Mamiya, however, throughout the largest part of his life, was never able to deal with his own traumas, and that's what led to his extremely isolated and alienated lifestyle -- a lifestyle that is explicitly mentioned the book.

Murakami seems to argue that our identity becomes heavily attached to our own feelings of depression, isolation, guilt and others too, as both Toru and Mamiya state that they actually became attached to the well (Toru even becomes dependent on it at one point). I personally believe that the well has many meanings, but I think that, aside from depression, it mainly serves as a metaphor for that refuge depressed people usually consider a peaceful place of sorts (think the room of the protagonist from A Man Asleep by Perec).

Hell, let's not go that far, many people who suffer from social anxiety (myself included) tend to have a place like that.

Pretty sure the cliches about sexlessness don't really apply for a wealthy, famous, prize winning author.

Hard Boiled Wonderland is his masterpiece.

That's an interesting take on it, thanks