Published: 1954 (Faber and Faber) Setting: A deserted island Summary: Lord of the Flies is a seminal novel in the old canon of high school literature classes, but unlike many of its mid-century contemporaries (see: Catcher in the Rye, a book I enjoyed as a middle schooler, but as I get older I find it less and lessContinue reading “Lord of the Flies-William Golding”
Category Archives: Fiction
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running-Haruki Murakami
Published: 2007 (Bungeishunju) Setting: Japan, Greece, Cambridge U.S. Summary: Haruki Murakami’s running memoir starts with the saying: “suffering is optional,” and ends with his proposed epitaph: “at least he never walked.” Murakami is equally interested in systems and experience. Running is the metaphysical key that unlocks the rest of the body and mind, and the way you trainContinue reading “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running-Haruki Murakami”
Kitchen/Moonlight Shadow-Banana Yoshimoto
Published: 1988 (MK) Setting: 1980’s Tokyo Summary: Banana Yoshimoto’s first novel, Kitchen, and her novella, Moonlight Shadow, both deal with how lose makes us examine our distance to those we care about. Mikage, the protagonist in Kitchen, lives in a tiny world filled with pots, pans, couches, and plants. What she lacks is genuine connection to others afterContinue reading “Kitchen/Moonlight Shadow-Banana Yoshimoto”
Earthlings-Sayaka Murata
Published: 2018 (Shinchosa) Setting: 1990’s and 2010’s Tokyo and rural Nagano Summary: In Murata’s second novel to be widely-translated, Earthlings, an idiosyncratic young girl named Natsuki confronts childhood trauma in an unorthodox and revealing manner, ultimately ending in total detachment from human “Earthlings,” and their society at large, twenty years later. Natsuki, unfit to be in her normalContinue reading “Earthlings-Sayaka Murata”
The Face of Another-Kobo Abe
Published: 1964 (Kodansha) Setting: 1960’s Osaka Summary: In this follow-up to Abe’s award-winning novel, The Woman in the Dunes, a leading plastics scientist’s face becomes disfigured from a chemical burn, spiraling him into isolation and alienation from others and his past self. This novel is split into three journals which the unnamed scientist uses to explain to hisContinue reading “The Face of Another-Kobo Abe”
The Woman In The Dunes-Kobo Abe
Published: 1962 (submitted to Yomiuri Prize) Setting: An unnamed coastal fishing village Summary: This Yomiuri Prize winning novel begins and ends in a dream like sandscape, a place where sand accumulates like time and swallows the visitor whole. Jumpei, an entomologist looking for the next new insect to classify, stumbles upon a desolate village with aContinue reading “The Woman In The Dunes-Kobo Abe”
1Q84-Haruki Murakami
Published: 2009-10 (Shinchosha) Setting: Tokyo, Yamanashi Summary: Murakami’s epic starts and ends with a tunnel that connects reality and fantasy. This nexus is where Murakami has thrived in his career. 1Q84 explores the nature of reality, of religion in modern society, and the twists of fate which tie humans together. The three principal characters in this movie are a personalContinue reading “1Q84-Haruki Murakami”
Haruki Murakami goes to meet Hayao Kawai
Published: 1996 (Iwanami Shoten) Setting: A Room Summary: Haruki Murakami and Hayao Kawai sat down in 1996, and the transcript of their conversation informs the reader as to what they think about life, love, violence, the novel, and psychotherapy among other topics. This conversation lends particularly crucial insight into Kawai’s sand play methods, as well asContinue reading “Haruki Murakami goes to meet Hayao Kawai”
After Dark-Haruki Murakami
Published: 2004 (Kodansha) Setting: Tokyo Summary: A dark night full of mystery, love hotels, and Denny’s brings an entangled web of insomniacs together in this short novel by Haruki Murakami. Mari is a college student about to go to Beijing as a foreign exchange student, who runs into a young man named Takahashi who she has met onceContinue reading “After Dark-Haruki Murakami”
Kafka on the Shore-Haruki Murakami
Published: 2002 (Shinchosha) Setting: Tokyo, Takamatsu, Kochi Summary: Kafka Tamura is a 15-year-old boy with an Oedipal curse hanging over his head. He is supposed to kill his father, and sleep with his long-lost sister and mother. He runs away from home to escape this fate, from Tokyo to Takamatsu, and along the way he meets his “sister”Continue reading “Kafka on the Shore-Haruki Murakami”
Will Reviews Things 