55 pages • 1 hour read
Haruki MurakamiA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Haruki Murakami has been described as one of the world’s most popular cult novelists. His idiosyncratic narrative style and use of the surreal have garnered him comparisons to writers such as Kurt Vonnegut and Franz Kafka, and his writing style is often classified as magical realism. Murakami’s novels often involve multiple narratives that come together, including After Dark, Kafka at the Shore, and 1Q84. After Dark mostly follows Mari Asai through Tokyo at night, but it also contains subplots, following Eri Asai struggling through a surreal sleep realm, and Shirakawa, the violent office man, whose plot has little in the way of a conclusion. Characters in Murakami’s novels often engage in long, quirky conversations about esoteric topics that help advance the novel’s themes and character development. Examples of this in After Dark include most of the chapters where Mari and Takahashi are together, Mari and Kaoru’s conversation about Alphaville and irony at the bar, and Mari’s discussion with Korogi when Korogi reveals her life’s story.
By Haruki Murakami
1Q84
1Q84
Haruki Murakami
A Wild Sheep Chase
A Wild Sheep Chase
Haruki Murakami
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Haruki Murakami
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Haruki Murakami
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Haruki Murakami
Kafka on the Shore
Kafka on the Shore
Haruki Murakami
Killing Commendatore
Killing Commendatore
Haruki Murakami
Norwegian Wood
Norwegian Wood
Haruki Murakami
South of the Border, West of the Sun
South of the Border, West of the Sun
Haruki Murakami
Sputnik Sweetheart
Sputnik Sweetheart
Haruki Murakami
The Elephant Vanishes
The Elephant Vanishes: Stories
Haruki Murakami
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Haruki Murakami, Transl. Jay Rubin
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Haruki Murakami