Dance Dance Dance

Good to read

“Wild Sheep Chase” must be read before starting this sequel, because Murakami does not give the new reader adequate background about the characters or plot of the previous novel. The story kicks off with the narrator forming a friendship with former classmate Gotunda, who is now a matinee idol. Gotunda has also slept with Kiki, the narrator’s one-time girlfriend, ear model and call girl, but she has vanished from both their lives. Hoping to find her, our narrator returns to the Dolphin Hotel, only to find that the old hotel has been replaced by a modern hotel high-rise. The new hotel is inhabited by the spirit of the old hotel, which occasionally reappears on different floors, somewhat like “Brigadoon” meets “The Shining.” He becomes enamored of the very proper desk clerk, Yumiyoshi, and it is she who brings sassy, clairvoyant, 13-year old Yuki into his life. From here the story a delightful human drama, with the two of them guiding and transforming each other’s lives. Murakami then engages us in a murder mystery, which involves Kiki and takes a rather bizarre turn. For those of us who did not want “Wild Sheep Chase” to end, Murakami has given us a satisfying and surreal second half. Though not as exciting as “Wild Sheep Chase,” it is filled with memorable characters. If you are new to Murakami, your might gauge your reading pleasure by how much you liked or disliked the tv classic “Twin Peaks.”

I do not have much to add to the other positive reviews. The negative ones are just silly (of course apart from the objection against abridging the English edition; that annoys me too, but let's not hold it against HM, and I would not have noticed anyway). I like the comparison made somewhere that this is like Kafka in a Chandler novel, but I have to object to the notion that Kafka had no sense of humour. Please read the Hunger Artist or even the Verwandlung again, what are they if not hilarious in a black sort of way. The protagonist of Dancex3 is sometimes like a Philip Marlowe without a mission, but that is a fleeting impression. He starts off looking for somebody, but gives up quickly. Marlowe wouldn't do that. Nothing sticks. The novel might be a normal noir mystery, if it did not escalate into esoterics once in a while. One expects that from HM. I liked the names of Yuki's disfunctional parents: the father's name, the writer's, is an anagram of HM's, and the mother is called Rain, like Barry Eisler's half Japanese killer. Coincidence? I liked the encounters with unexpected developments: the receptionist, the actor, the writer, of course the brat. One of HM's strengths, developing people relationships off the beaten track. What I mean by my review title: reading Murakami is like listening to Coltrane or the Stones or Brahms, it does not matter so much what the plot is, nor who the characters are, it is a purpose in itself. You don't need to learn anything from it, nor is it to be used in the sense of the protagonist's frequent spouts of "killing time". Of course it is not shoveling snow either. It is what it is. A way of life. Like meditation. Great stuff.

"Dance Dance Dance", by Haruki Murakami. Four years after the conclusion of " A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel " our still un-named protagonist is still trying to move on with his life though he often dreams of the Dolphin Hotel. The dreams are vivid and in them he feels like he is part of an ongoing circumstance. He can hear crying in these dreams as well. He suspects it is the crying of his former girlfriend who accompanied him on a wild sheep chase only to vanish mysteriously before the chase was complete. It looks like another trip to the Dolphin Hotel may be in order for our protagonist as he seeks his missing girlfriend but a resolution may not be what he finds... "Dance Dance Dance" is one of my favorite Murakami books and ranks right up there with " Kafka on the Shore " in my opinion. A sequel or follow up doesn't usually equal its predecessor but in this case I would have to say it surpasses "A Wild Sheep Chase". The Good: Murakami's prose always sucks me in. His characters always feel very real and their internal musings add great depth to the characters themselves and to the story. There is great exotic flavor in all of Murakami's work as they all tend to take place for the most part in Japan and through his descriptions and his characters thoughts on their surroundings the Japanese landscape comes alive. The Bad: Nothing memorable. Overall: "Dance Dance Dance" is one of Murakami's best. If you are a fan of Murakami and have already finished "A Wild Sheep Chase" then this is a must read.

いちいち単語を訳すのではなく、類推して読んでみました。 なかなか日本語とは読むスピードが変わりますがなんとかなりますね。

Dance, dance, dance is perhaps the first really strong novel by Murakami, the most mature, the one on which everything starts to build up; the answer to many of the loose ends that he usually leaves hanging in most of his novels. It is such a fine piece of work, written with such sharp that a rereading is necessary. Young Murakami shows his concern with the modern world in this piece more than in other previous or later works. A delightful journey from a detached man's mind to a connected one. All in all, I consider it to be the novel that helps find out answers to most Murakami's puzzles. Enjoyable to the core.

Loved every second of this book. If there was a dance dance dance 2 I would read it in a second. Now i am going to read the first 3 books of "The Rat series" so its complete.

The quality of the book was good as expected. A good Murakami book with a plot really engaging.

New book