| ||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £1.00
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £1.00, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Daily Telegraph
Jay Rubin's engaging critical study of Haruki Murakami examines the complex intersection of the Japanese novelist's life...Rubin is a confident guide to this surreal world
New York Times
A lively and eccentric new critical study
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you're a definite Murakami fan, and would like to delve into his books a little more, this is a great buy. It's not really meant to be a biography as much as an examination of Murakami's stories and their background, as well as the ways in which they've developed over his career, starting from his earliest and working up to The Wind Up Bird chronicle and beyond.
It looks at Murakami's writing style and some of the themes that crop up in his books, but it's very accessible and enjoyable, so please don't be put off or think that this is just for students. Jay Rubin's enthusiasm and knowledge really make the book, and although it might not lead you to read Murakami in a whole new light, it does put a fresh spin on his stories. You might just find yourself heading off to the bookshelf to dig out some old favourites.
It looks at Murakami's writing style and some of the themes that crop up in his books, but it's very accessible and enjoyable, so please don't be put off or think that this is just for students. Jay Rubin's enthusiasm and knowledge really make the book, and although it might not lead you to read Murakami in a whole new light, it does put a fresh spin on his stories. You might just find yourself heading off to the bookshelf to dig out some old favourites.
26 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Everyone who has read a novel of Murakami will agree that he is a very imaginative writer. Discussions about fiction, its meanings, functions and symbols, however, are often tough reading for most of us. Use of lingo, technical intricacies and obscure references often make literary critique something like 'the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns'. And that is a pity, for background reading can really enhance the literary experience.
It is Jay Rubin's merit that he has written a very good introduction on one of the most intriguing and in my eyes original contemporary authors. Never writing for an elite club of intimi, he succeeds in presenting his reader with a glimpse of the author Haruki Murakami, while giving very accessible insights in the books Murakami has written. This book is interesting for everyone who wants to dive into the fantastical world of Haruki Murakami, and is an excellent introduction to start further exploration of this fantastical writer and his books. Rubin gives a good overview of central concerns and topics in Murakami's books, hinting at correspondences between the different novels. Indeed, Murakami seems to be writing together an oeuvre, not a number of individual novels and short story collection. By merely hinting at those correspondences, Rubin keeps his book accessible for all readers, not scaring non-professional scholars off by complex methodological and thematic discussions. That is the great merit of this book: it opens up the oeuvre of Murakami for everyone. I would even say that it could be an interesting starting point for professional critics who want to explore the dark undergrounds in Murakami's books. This book, according to me, opens the door for interesting scientific reasearch on Murakami...
It is Jay Rubin's merit that he has written a very good introduction on one of the most intriguing and in my eyes original contemporary authors. Never writing for an elite club of intimi, he succeeds in presenting his reader with a glimpse of the author Haruki Murakami, while giving very accessible insights in the books Murakami has written. This book is interesting for everyone who wants to dive into the fantastical world of Haruki Murakami, and is an excellent introduction to start further exploration of this fantastical writer and his books. Rubin gives a good overview of central concerns and topics in Murakami's books, hinting at correspondences between the different novels. Indeed, Murakami seems to be writing together an oeuvre, not a number of individual novels and short story collection. By merely hinting at those correspondences, Rubin keeps his book accessible for all readers, not scaring non-professional scholars off by complex methodological and thematic discussions. That is the great merit of this book: it opens up the oeuvre of Murakami for everyone. I would even say that it could be an interesting starting point for professional critics who want to explore the dark undergrounds in Murakami's books. This book, according to me, opens the door for interesting scientific reasearch on Murakami...
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Where this book does really well is in breaking down the tales of Haruki Murakami, as Jay Rubin says, that being a translator also means being a critic, and he does a really fantastic job of interpreting the novels and short stories, so much so that he has made me want to reread at least a couple of Murakami's books. But he kind of scrimps on the autobiographical detail, using just enough to flesh out the exploration of his subjects oeuvre, offering a skeletal history, most of which is either known, or is easily accessible - married whilst at University, opened jazz Bar (peter cat), escaped to America after early success etc. At first I was a bit disappointed with the meagre offerings on the personal side of one of my favourite authors, and yet it soon became irrelevant, I became fascinated as jay Rubin dissected the stories, offering up his diagnosis, his interpretation of a series of works that have mystified readers for a while now, and in doing so shone a light into the many levels of Haruki Murakami's novels.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Very good introduction and comapanion to Murakami
Very good introduction and companion to Haruki Murakami by the most well-known of his three translators into English. Read more
Published on 5 April 2008 by Greshon
Scholarly under the skin
Despite Jay Rubin trying his hardest to make this biography as accessible to as many people as possible, there are certain variables that hinder despite Rubin's personal... Read more
Published on 31 Aug 2002 by Mo
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Novelists, Poets & Playwrights > Novelists
- Books > Biography > Social & Health Issues > Cultural History > Japanese
- Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > History & Criticism
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Communication Studies > Media & Communication Industries > Television
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
