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Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words | 
| Author: Jay Rubin
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £6.99
You Save: £2.00 (22%)
New (33) Used (7) from £4.82
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 31646
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 0099455447
Dewey Decimal Number: 809
EAN: 9780099455448
ASIN: 0099455447
Publication Date: January 6, 2005
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
Very good introduction and comapanion to Murakami April 5, 2008
Very good introduction and companion to Haruki Murakami by the most well-known of his three translators into English. Insightful autobigraphical information shares space with helpful criticism and comment on the often ambigious novels and short stories. There's not much help readily available on these works in English, so this is a very useful book to get your hands on if you're a fan.
Rubin has a great flare for writing fluid, clear English, and this volume is as readible as his translations. His skills as a translator, editor and scholar of things Japanese is also impressively showcased in his recent volume of short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa (for which Murakami provided an excellent introduction), published in Penguin. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on his translations of the great Natsume Soseki.
Murakami himself comes out of this appearing to be a very slippery author, whose comments on his own work would seem to be completely unhelpful.
If only Murakami's first two novels would become available in English. Apparently translations are already extant, and they would certainly turn a good profit for Vintage.
Bubbling enthuisam on Murakami's work April 14, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
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.
 Scholarly under the skin August 31, 2002
12 out of 25 found this review helpful
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 touch.
A) Haruki Murakami the writer, is not as exciting as his fiction.
B) His writing is first and foremost meant to be enjoyed and devoured instantantly, unless you're a student and...
C) This is a scholarly book despite it's human presentation. Everyone learns some valuable things about Murakami and his works, but it's not neccessary unless you really wish to devour information at a sub-technical level.Of course, you can add; what more do you expect from a biography - that is still good. But believe me, with a thick volume like this ignorance is bliss.
non-scholarly criticism April 24, 2002
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
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...
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