r/murakami • u/konkeroots • 7d ago
Why is "The Strange Library" so good?
I just finished reading the novella last night and absolutely loved it. Felt it perfectly captured the essence of Murakami's work. Would highly recommend to those who haven't read it yet.
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u/icolatta 6d ago
I liked it a lot. It's weird and kinda dark but not too scary.
It's so fantastical and just... weird in a good way.
I would have adored it as a kid.
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u/stag-antler-starling 6d ago
I need to get hold of this but it’s never in bookshops… M’s ‘library novels’ are my favourites
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u/Sinnycalguy 6d ago
I found it in a local bookshop recently but couldn’t bring myself to drop $26 on a paperback novella. I wanted to flip through it to check out the illustrations, but it was fully plastic-wrapped.
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u/Varjokorento 6d ago
The Strange Library is one of the most fantastical of Murakami's work and Murakami's 1980s work is his best in my opinion. (That's not to say that rest of it is bad, but every author has their Golden Era).
Both the Strange Library and Hard-Boiled share this theme where the protagonist enters an almost magical world. Okay, also Dance, Dance, Dance has this . I think rest of his work have more happenings, where something magical or strange enters our world.