Just finished the novel, still in haze about some points,can you discuss about your thoughts on these points?? 1.Did Gotanda really killed kiki? 2.Who killed Mei? 3.Who was the 6th skeleton? 4.What happened in the end? Where was the sheep man? 5.What was happening in the dolphin hotel? Does two worlds stuck in that hotel?Like some kind of time travel or something?
Hey, Anika! Unfortunately, I don't remember much about this one. I will say, however, that in most cases with Murakami: it is more likely that the haziness is a deliberate design of the author than a failure of the reader.
This is obviously my own perspective so could be very wrong (curious as to what yours is though!) To me the story is about the protagonist finding his own life again and his identity. The sheepman symbolized this journey as the protagonist ties together the loose ends and navigates his confusion in finding his life. What’s real and not real is hard to say that’s important to keep in mind when reading murakami and it leaves it up to the reader to interpret what is part of reality 1. Yes I think gotanda killed Kiki and to answer your next question also killed Mei. One thing to realize is that Kiki and Mei were both times the detached protagonist was able to make a rare genuine connection with another, as if they’re fundamental/connected to his identity. Who killed them doesn’t necessarily matter but knowing that they are dead and the author is searching for that connection (rather than specifically Kiki or Mei) is the important part. 3. Many ways to see this. Short answer is it could be the protagonist, it could also be symbolic of the protagonists past life and him leaving that behind as he finally discovers who he is, and third possibility is the sheepman who disappeared. 4. The sheepman only existed to bridge the gap between the authors past and his future. All people involved in the story were there to tie the loose ends in the authors head of where to go/his identity. I took his disappearance to mean that the sheepman had fulfilled his responsibility to bridge that gap and was no longer needed. The sheepman could also be the 6th skeleton 5, the dolphin hotel I took to be the authors mind. It housed his future identity and where he could put his past away. It’s the one constant between WSC while the author begins his search and is where it ends for that reason because it very much is the author Just my thoughts :)
@@chrisyeung162 3. I’ve read a theory that yuki is the 6th. There’s a smaller skeleton with her arms neatly in her lap. Yuki is described like this a few times. She also says goodbye to the protagonist referring to him in past tense because she knew she wouldn’t see him again. When we left her she was down and with her mother who was depressed
It's interesting that some love Norwegian Wood and dislike Dance.. while others are the other way around. I enjoyed norwegian wood, yet I found Dance Dance Dance to be a perfect mix of reality with a healthy dose of surrealism without taking it too far, as I'm not a big fan of fantasy. I thought Norwegian Wood was cool, yet it was far too "normal". Dance Dance Dance really resonated with me and the fact that it was kind of a "can't put my finger on it" kind of normal really made it special for me. When asked why I liked it so much, I am unable to offer a in depth explanation. I would say it was one of his best novels, not really reality but not really fantasy either.
I can get that, for sure. That ambivalent feeling you're describing is a lot of what my friends who love HM talk about. I've felt that, too, with books like Henry James's A Turn of the Screw--are they really ghosts or not?! So many people have talked about how much they like DDD that perhaps one day I'll do a reread. For now, I'm taking a break from HM, but I look forward to picking back up with one that a lot of people praise: Kafka on the Shore. Great to hear from you!
@@LeafbyLeaf I found this book way better much more mature than Norwegian wood- the women characters are not developed- this is deliberate. This book is about a guy who cannot understand women. So relevant to today's internet generation that somehow cannot bring about relations between people into reality. Loved it.
I think you already deserve some kind of medal for sticking with this project after so many disappointing reads. 😆 Dance, Dance, Dance was my first introduction to Murakami (I didn’t know at the time that it was part of the Rat series) and I thought it was terrible. Unfortunately, I felt the same about your next Murakami book, too. Hope you enjoy it more than I did!
Haha! I feel the same way. In fact, I'm going to wait until next year to read The Windup-Bird Chronicle (I've already read South of the Border; the video is done and will be up in a couple weeks). I need a break to stay as positive as possible. Still, I do feel I'm giving the novels my best effort as a reader.
that's interesting, as I really enjoyed Dance Dance Dance. I thought it was his best work as it combined elements of surrealism into the narrative, as a way for the main character to escape his mediocre and mundane existence. I Interpret the story as a Journey of discovery for the protagonist who is seeking answers to life questions. It was kind of a "can't quite put my finger on it "type of book
I thought there was some interesting stuff brewing up, but in the end I kind of felt that there was no point to any of it. I usually don't have a problem with Murakami's more open endings but I really didn't feel any part of that book led to anything
@@LeafbyLeaf I feel like the conclusion of Wild Sheep Chase was all this character really needed. It still wasn't perfect, but at least there WAS an ending/climax
His words, even if talking about nothing but a hotel room, flip on a buried creative switch in my mind. I'll think about other things, relax into my new insights, and I enjoy his books for that experience. The story itself was rubbish if you try to explain the plot to someone.
I’ve had a lot of people say things similar to this. Murakami has something that sparks something. His protagonists have a laissez-faire attitude against absurd situations that many people connect with. But you’re right-there’s a quality that escapes explanation. I’m looking forward to looking back on all the books after I’m done.
I want to ask you a thing: how does italiana work american high school? Italian high school is divided in 2 semesters: the first from 15 september to 31 january, the second from 1 february to 10 june. You go to school from 8 AM to 1 PM, all days except Sunday. Every year you change classroom. In american high school it seems to me that you change classroom every 1-2 hours. Italian high school lasts 5 years, american high school lasts 4 years divided in the first 2 sophomore and the last 2 senior. Correct? Thanks! It's one of my curiosities. See you soon!
It has been quite a few years since I've been in high school, and I can only speak to the state of Virginia, but it's like this: Highschoolers go for 4 years--freshman, sophomore, junior, senior. Roughly ages 14-18. The year extends from about August to June. You take one set of classes the first half and another second half, and you have different teachers for each class. Hope this helps!
Spot on analysis! Spoiler below ⚠️ I didnt find Yuki’s vision of Gotanda totally killing Kiki negating the buildup, at least it was in line with the mecanism of various characters in the tetralogy having similar visions, but sure it’s not very creative. However a major self-negating moment for me was when Gotanda said he didn’t know whether he killed Kiki and the narrator was completely unphased when Gotanda eventually said that he killed her. As if suddenly his connection to Kiki - one of thr main drivers of the plot - didn’t actually matter. Quite an anti-climax ending of a otherwise, imo, great series. Nevertheless not an altogether unpleasant read.
I've just finished it and I am quite disappointed. It was my first Murakami book, and it was said to me that this was his best work - so I really gave it a try and had high hopes till the end (I thought this mess would eventually make sense... but no). The female characters were the worst, and I hated his relationship with Yuki. It was so male gaze-y and inappropriate. I also thought that the English translation was a bit... off? But as this was my first Japanese Novel (and as I'm not an English native speaker), I can't really tell. I thought about reading Norwegian Wood if I liked D. D. D., but now I'm unsure. Maybe in a few months. Thanks for your review! :)
If this had been my first Murakami novel and I wasn’t enforcing the reading challenge on myself, I’m not sure I would have ever read anything else of his. As you heard in the video, my sentiments were very much like yours. Rest assured, however, that Norwegian Wood is totally different than DDD. Still, no shame in giving yourself some time to recover. 🙂
I totally agree with you. "Dance dance dance" is not a big deal. This novel sucks. Did you enjoy reading it? Not so much, i guess. But murakami can do better than this. His "non-fiction" books about the art of running and writing are very good. Also the next book you are going to review is much better. Actually one of my faves after "norwegian wood". I'd looking forward to your next murakami's review in order to see if you agree with me. Thanks for showing up!See you.
Hello and thanks! You've piqued my interest in his non-fiction. With which should I start? I'm sorry to say that I found the next novel a strange return to his realism (after his recoil from public acceptance of Norwegian Wood), and it tried to be NW but fell short. Still, there were some merits. I've already made the video for it, so stay tuned!
Agree with a lot of these points, just finished this a half hour ago with some disappointment as I like a lot of the other Murakami books, but refreshed to hear this put in words by someone else 😆
And to think you have quite a few more of his books to go. I believe you've made your point to your friends. At least I'll understand if you want to stop this project.
Thanks, George! I admit that it's now becoming a bit of an endurance test, so I'm going to take a break until February, which then presents me with Windup-Bird. Hopefully that'll refresh the project. (Plus, I'm going to read The Man without Qualities in January!)
There was NO perverted statement between The Narrator & Yuki. And I really can't grasp WHY u say Yumiyoshi is the most useless character in any novel !! Bcos she was bespectacled & uptight ?!! There ARE lots of people like her in this World. Pls Don't be critical of characterisations just bcos u don't like that character type😐. Pls try NOT to be Judgemental of a Character's attitude/ personality. They are written for a story, that's all.
To be honest, I can't even remember this book or what I said of it--but apparently what I said wasn't good with you. Sorry about that, my friend. I appreciate your advice!
Our host is much too nice to say this, so I will: If you just want to hear your own opinions come out of somebody else's mouth, then this channel isn't for you. I like this book, too, and I disagree with some of the opinions expressed in this video, but in many ways the points of disagreement between my own reading and his are what make these videos interesting and worthwhile. Most fundamentally, you ought to try to remember that when a person's perspective differs from yours, or their opinion doesn't line up with yours, it is not a personal attack. Disagreement can be a very fertile starting point for unexpected and valuable insights. Also, you really need to work on your spelling, punctuation, and use of capitals.
Wow, if Yumiyoshi had Kiki’s ears. That would add more depth to the ending. Love that idea
I’m not trying to say I could do it better, of course-but I just thought that could be a cool ending.
Just finished the novel, still in haze about some points,can you discuss about your thoughts on these points??
1.Did Gotanda really killed kiki?
2.Who killed Mei?
3.Who was the 6th skeleton?
4.What happened in the end? Where was the sheep man?
5.What was happening in the dolphin hotel? Does two worlds stuck in that hotel?Like some kind of time travel or something?
Hey, Anika! Unfortunately, I don't remember much about this one. I will say, however, that in most cases with Murakami: it is more likely that the haziness is a deliberate design of the author than a failure of the reader.
This is obviously my own perspective so could be very wrong (curious as to what yours is though!)
To me the story is about the protagonist finding his own life again and his identity. The sheepman symbolized this journey as the protagonist ties together the loose ends and navigates his confusion in finding his life.
What’s real and not real is hard to say that’s important to keep in mind when reading murakami and it leaves it up to the reader to interpret what is part of reality
1. Yes I think gotanda killed Kiki and to answer your next question also killed Mei. One thing to realize is that Kiki and Mei were both times the detached protagonist was able to make a rare genuine connection with another, as if they’re fundamental/connected to his identity. Who killed them doesn’t necessarily matter but knowing that they are dead and the author is searching for that connection (rather than specifically Kiki or Mei) is the important part.
3. Many ways to see this. Short answer is it could be the protagonist, it could also be symbolic of the protagonists past life and him leaving that behind as he finally discovers who he is, and third possibility is the sheepman who disappeared.
4. The sheepman only existed to bridge the gap between the authors past and his future. All people involved in the story were there to tie the loose ends in the authors head of where to go/his identity. I took his disappearance to mean that the sheepman had fulfilled his responsibility to bridge that gap and was no longer needed. The sheepman could also be the 6th skeleton
5, the dolphin hotel I took to be the authors mind. It housed his future identity and where he could put his past away. It’s the one constant between WSC while the author begins his search and is where it ends for that reason because it very much is the author
Just my thoughts :)
@@chrisyeung162 Thank you!!! I really appreciate your thoughts!!!
@@chrisyeung162 3. I’ve read a theory that yuki is the 6th. There’s a smaller skeleton with her arms neatly in her lap. Yuki is described like this a few times. She also says goodbye to the protagonist referring to him in past tense because she knew she wouldn’t see him again. When we left her she was down and with her mother who was depressed
@@acamas_8782 agree!
It's interesting that some love Norwegian Wood and dislike Dance.. while others are the other way around. I enjoyed norwegian wood, yet I found Dance Dance Dance to be a perfect mix of reality with a healthy dose of surrealism without taking it too far, as I'm not a big fan of fantasy. I thought Norwegian Wood was cool, yet it was far too "normal". Dance Dance Dance really resonated with me and the fact that it was kind of a "can't put my finger on it" kind of normal really made it special for me. When asked why I liked it so much, I am unable to offer a in depth explanation. I would say it was one of his best novels, not really reality but not really fantasy either.
I can get that, for sure. That ambivalent feeling you're describing is a lot of what my friends who love HM talk about. I've felt that, too, with books like Henry James's A Turn of the Screw--are they really ghosts or not?! So many people have talked about how much they like DDD that perhaps one day I'll do a reread. For now, I'm taking a break from HM, but I look forward to picking back up with one that a lot of people praise: Kafka on the Shore. Great to hear from you!
Leaf by Leaf cheers, look forward to more videos
Thanks so much! Nice to meet you!
@@LeafbyLeaf I found this book way better much more mature than Norwegian wood- the women characters are not developed- this is deliberate. This book is about a guy who cannot understand women. So relevant to today's internet generation that somehow cannot bring about relations between people into reality. Loved it.
I like the cameo of your washing machine
This house is full of appliances that want to make cameos!
I think you already deserve some kind of medal for sticking with this project after so many disappointing reads. 😆 Dance, Dance, Dance was my first introduction to Murakami (I didn’t know at the time that it was part of the Rat series) and I thought it was terrible. Unfortunately, I felt the same about your next Murakami book, too. Hope you enjoy it more than I did!
Haha! I feel the same way. In fact, I'm going to wait until next year to read The Windup-Bird Chronicle (I've already read South of the Border; the video is done and will be up in a couple weeks). I need a break to stay as positive as possible. Still, I do feel I'm giving the novels my best effort as a reader.
that's interesting, as I really enjoyed Dance Dance Dance. I thought it was his best work as it combined elements of surrealism into the narrative, as a way for the main character to escape his mediocre and mundane existence. I Interpret the story as a Journey of discovery for the protagonist who is seeking answers to life questions. It was kind of a "can't quite put my finger on it "type of book
Haha, I also just finished DDD not knowing it's a series..
I thought there was some interesting stuff brewing up, but in the end I kind of felt that there was no point to any of it. I usually don't have a problem with Murakami's more open endings but I really didn't feel any part of that book led to anything
I had the same experience. There were a lot of elements primed for a rich conclusion, but conclusions are not Murakami’s M.O.
@@LeafbyLeaf I feel like the conclusion of Wild Sheep Chase was all this character really needed. It still wasn't perfect, but at least there WAS an ending/climax
His words, even if talking about nothing but a hotel room, flip on a buried creative switch in my mind. I'll think about other things, relax into my new insights, and I enjoy his books for that experience. The story itself was rubbish if you try to explain the plot to someone.
I’ve had a lot of people say things similar to this. Murakami has something that sparks something. His protagonists have a laissez-faire attitude against absurd situations that many people connect with. But you’re right-there’s a quality that escapes explanation. I’m looking forward to looking back on all the books after I’m done.
I want to ask you a thing: how does italiana work american high school? Italian high school is divided in 2 semesters: the first from 15 september to 31 january, the second from 1 february to 10 june. You go to school from 8 AM to 1 PM, all days except Sunday. Every year you change classroom. In american high school it seems to me that you change classroom every 1-2 hours. Italian high school lasts 5 years, american high school lasts 4 years divided in the first 2 sophomore and the last 2 senior. Correct? Thanks! It's one of my curiosities. See you soon!
It has been quite a few years since I've been in high school, and I can only speak to the state of Virginia, but it's like this: Highschoolers go for 4 years--freshman, sophomore, junior, senior. Roughly ages 14-18. The year extends from about August to June. You take one set of classes the first half and another second half, and you have different teachers for each class. Hope this helps!
Spot on analysis!
Spoiler below ⚠️
I didnt find Yuki’s vision of Gotanda totally killing Kiki negating the buildup, at least it was in line with the mecanism of various characters in the tetralogy having similar visions, but sure it’s not very creative.
However a major self-negating moment for me was when Gotanda said he didn’t know whether he killed Kiki and the narrator was completely unphased when Gotanda eventually said that he killed her. As if suddenly his connection to Kiki - one of thr main drivers of the plot - didn’t actually matter.
Quite an anti-climax ending of a otherwise, imo, great series. Nevertheless not an altogether unpleasant read.
good review though
Gracias amigo!
I've just finished it and I am quite disappointed. It was my first Murakami book, and it was said to me that this was his best work - so I really gave it a try and had high hopes till the end (I thought this mess would eventually make sense... but no). The female characters were the worst, and I hated his relationship with Yuki. It was so male gaze-y and inappropriate. I also thought that the English translation was a bit... off? But as this was my first Japanese Novel (and as I'm not an English native speaker), I can't really tell.
I thought about reading Norwegian Wood if I liked D. D. D., but now I'm unsure. Maybe in a few months. Thanks for your review! :)
If this had been my first Murakami novel and I wasn’t enforcing the reading challenge on myself, I’m not sure I would have ever read anything else of his. As you heard in the video, my sentiments were very much like yours. Rest assured, however, that Norwegian Wood is totally different than DDD. Still, no shame in giving yourself some time to recover. 🙂
I totally agree with you. "Dance dance dance" is not a big deal. This novel sucks. Did you enjoy reading it? Not so much, i guess. But murakami can do better than this. His "non-fiction" books about the art of running and writing are very good. Also the next book you are going to review is much better. Actually one of my faves after "norwegian wood". I'd looking forward to your next murakami's review in order to see if you agree with me. Thanks for showing up!See you.
Hello and thanks! You've piqued my interest in his non-fiction. With which should I start? I'm sorry to say that I found the next novel a strange return to his realism (after his recoil from public acceptance of Norwegian Wood), and it tried to be NW but fell short. Still, there were some merits. I've already made the video for it, so stay tuned!
@@LeafbyLeaf , i read first "what i talked about when i talked about running" even if i enjoyed the book about writing best.
@@marinamaccagni5253 I'll check out the one about writing.
Agree with a lot of these points, just finished this a half hour ago with some disappointment as I like a lot of the other Murakami books, but refreshed to hear this put in words by someone else 😆
Kafka on the Shore is next up for me. Have you read that one? Was it better than this one?
And to think you have quite a few more of his books to go. I believe you've made your point to your friends. At least I'll understand if you want to stop this project.
Thanks, George! I admit that it's now becoming a bit of an endurance test, so I'm going to take a break until February, which then presents me with Windup-Bird. Hopefully that'll refresh the project. (Plus, I'm going to read The Man without Qualities in January!)
@@LeafbyLeaf Sounds like a good plan!
There was NO perverted statement between The Narrator & Yuki.
And I really can't grasp WHY u say Yumiyoshi is the most useless character in any novel !! Bcos she was bespectacled & uptight ?!! There ARE lots of people like her in this World.
Pls Don't be critical of characterisations just bcos u don't like that character type😐.
Pls try NOT to be Judgemental of a Character's attitude/ personality. They are written for a story, that's all.
To be honest, I can't even remember this book or what I said of it--but apparently what I said wasn't good with you. Sorry about that, my friend. I appreciate your advice!
Our host is much too nice to say this, so I will: If you just want to hear your own opinions come out of somebody else's mouth, then this channel isn't for you. I like this book, too, and I disagree with some of the opinions expressed in this video, but in many ways the points of disagreement between my own reading and his are what make these videos interesting and worthwhile.
Most fundamentally, you ought to try to remember that when a person's perspective differs from yours, or their opinion doesn't line up with yours, it is not a personal attack. Disagreement can be a very fertile starting point for unexpected and valuable insights.
Also, you really need to work on your spelling, punctuation, and use of capitals.