This series of books are not intended to be definitive guides (at under 100 pages how could they be) but are put together nicely as further reading for fans of the works they cover.

WUBC is one of my favourite books and this guide contains a great deal of interesting information and analysis on the novel. There are some fascinating quotes from Murakami himself and a number of interesting angles on the reading of the text.

It took just one train journey to read and I enjoyed it a great deal. Highly recommended for fans of Murakami.

I've read all of Murakami's fiction that has been released in english, so i am interested in anything that analyzes his fiction. This little 96 page book does quite a good job. It starts off with a short itroduction about Murakami himself. It is pretty short, and many fans would probably like to know more about Murakami, but it does help the reader to understand better from where Murakami is coming from and how his own personality is put into his characters. The second part of the book takes up many themes such as sexuality and violence. It gives the reader a higher understanding of Murakami's characters, and gives the reader an insight of what aspects that each character represents. The third part of the book is about the reception of the book in japan and in the rest of the world. This is a nice little book for a Murakami fan to read after he or she has finished reading _the wind-up bird chronicle_

OK, I should admit straight up that I'm biased - The Wind-up Bird is my favourite novel. So I'm hardly able to give this guidebook a neutral, detached review. In fact, I'm amazed that someone has published this - are there enough of us fanatics to make this kind of thing profitable?? I hope so, as I see that Mr Strecher has another book coming out shortly! Anyhow, this is a great place to start. It was good to read about Murakami's views on other Japanese writers, his student days, and his falling into a ditch at the age of three. If you've read the novel, that explains a lot! I thought that Strecher's analysis of the novel was wonderfully accurate, although as he admits himself, he has only scratched the surface of it. Especially fascinating was the section about the reviews the novel received - astonishing how many of these missed the point. In short, if you love this novel then I think you'll like this book. And if you haven't read this novel, please go and read it. Now.

As a previous reviewer mentioned, this book consists mostly of Rubin's literary criticism of all Murakami's works. This includes some things that are not readily available in English, especially things not available in book form. Rubin does, however, include excerpts of the material he discusses and he mentions magazines where Murakami's short stories have been published. Notes on translation are excellent, as is the bibliography.
While this book is not a straight-up biography, I think complaints about a lack of biographical material are unfounded. There is a lot of information about the chronology of Murakami's life and that of his wife, as well as insights into his thoughts on Japan and Japanese society. It is well known that Murakami is very private, and I was actually surprised at how much of a glimpse into his life and feelings Rubin was able to give us.
A note of some caution: although Rubin does not reveal everything in his criticism of Murakami's novels and short stories, I recommend that before reading this book you read as much of Murakami's works as you can get your hands on. This is partly because of spoiler issues, but mostly because it is the way to get the most out of Rubin's comments. And if you're anything like me, you will want to go back and re-read everything after seeing Rubin's take on the material -- unlike another reviewer, I feel that it is valuable to hear as many opinions as possible about Murakami as well as about any other writer.

First of all, don't buy this book purely for biographical purposes, hoping to get some hidden insight on Murakami's life. It is clear that Murakami values his privacy intensely and Rubin goes to great lengths to respect that. Also, what information is given about Murakami will pretty much conform with what you probably could've assumed about him. This book, more than anything else, is a chronological literary criticism of Murakami's works up through "after the quake." Rubin does a good job of analyzing many of the running motifs and themes that occur in Murakami's books (wells, corridors, birds, and elephants, to name a few). It is clear that Rubin has a hard time being a Murakami fan and a Murakami scholar at the same time, but he seems to do a good job remaining impartial (although it is clear which books are his favorites and which are not!)

My first experience with Murakami was when I read "A Wild Sheep Chase" a year and a half ago, and before I knew it I had read every major novel and short story he'd written, finishing Pinball 1973 just last week. I read the books in an order that pretty much had nothing to do with the order they were written (beware that the order that the English translations came out in is often quite different than the original order). As a result, reading the details Rubin gives behind each of the books and about the growth that Murakami experienced along the way were among the highlights of the book for me and helped to solidify the ties that hold his books together. Murakami fascinates me because he is still growing rapidly as a writer and a person and the growing pains as well as the links to his past work are found in each work if you know what to look for.

Rubin spends the most time in this book discussing "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle," which for me was an incredibly thrilling and frustrating book at the same time. Murakami had so many excellent storylines and so many running motifs, but many seemed to frazzle and die out by the end. Some call this piece Murakami's masterpiece, but I have a feeling that when all is said and done, this will be seen as a transitional piece: the first work where Murakami fully takes on the responsibility he feels towards the Japanese people. Murakami tackled so many issues with such brilliance (the Nomonhan Incident in particular) that I look forward to seeing where this new focus takes Murakami in the future. Some of his more recent work ("Sputnik Sweetheart" comes to mind) seem more of a step backwards than real progress, but there is no way Wind-Up Bird is a mere aberration.

Perhaps more so than any other writer, we as readers have the interesting opportunity to watch Murakami grow and experiment before our very eyes. If you haven't already, definitely try to get your hands on some of the earlier novels and short stories Rubin mentions ("Hear the Wind Sing" in particular) to get an even better grasp of where Murakami has started from.

If you are a serious fan of Murakami and want a better understanding of the thinking behind his works and a bit of an analysis of the works themselves (remember that as an individualist, Murakami believes his books have no one, strict interpretation!), "Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words" is a must-have companion to Murakami's works. Reliving Murakami's works through Rubin's analyses is a joy.

If you're like me, you're a huge fan of Haruki Murakami, but don't know much about him other than that he's one of Japan's most famous contemporary authors. This book definitely bridges the gap. It's mostly a literary criticism of his novels and short stories, but also includes as much biographical information as the author could find. I personally learned a lot about the underlying themes of Murakami's novels, and was also gratified that someone else thought "Dance, Dance, Dance" wasn't as good as his others. The book makes it clear how Murakami has changed over time and how the characters and events in his novels are inspired by his own life.

I'VE PICKED UP THIS BOOK SOON AFTER READING "THE NORWEGIAN WOOD" WHICH I HUGELY ENJOYED AND JUST COULDN'T PUT DOWN, SO I HAD QUITE HIGH EXPECTATIONS FROM THIS ONE, TOO. ALTHOUGH THE FIRST CHAPTERS SEEMED TO LEAD TO AN INTERESTING, EASY TO READ STORY,WITH MANY ELEMENTS THAT REMINDED ME OF "THE NORWEGIAN WOOD", BY THE TIME I WAS FINISHED WITH IT, I REALIZED THAT THIS NOVEL LACKS THE MAGIC SPELL THAT KEPT ME ENTRANCED IN "THE NORWEGIAN WOOD". THERE ARE A LOT OF UNSOLVED MYSTERIES AND LOOSE ENDS (MAINLY CONCERNING THE CHILDHOOD GIRLFRIEND WHOSE LIFE WE KNOW ALMOST NOTHING ABOUT), WHILE IN OTHER PLACES, THE STORY SEEMS TO LINGER AND THE PLOT IS VERY SLOW-PACED, MAKING THE READING A BIT TEDIOUS AND KEEPING YOU WONDER "SO, WHAT'S COMING NEXT ?". ALL THE SUSPENSE THAT BUILDS UP AMOUNTS TO NOTHING AS A LOT OF ACUTE QUESTIONS REMAIN UNANSWERED. ALTHOUGH NOT SO ENCHANTED WITH THIS BOOK, I WON'T REFRAIN FROM READING THIS AUTHOR'S OTHER WORKS BECAUSE, AFTER ALL, YOU COULD SAY MURAKAMI HAS GOT HIS UNIQUE, PARTICULAR WRITTING STYLE.

This was my fifth Haruki Murakami novel, and I believe it to be my favorite. It is a simple story of a man named Hajime and of the women he loved beginning with the pretty girl named Shimamoto who he met when he was in elementary school, Izumi his high school sweetheart, and Yukiko his wife. Although Murakami writes on Hajime's interactions with these women, the main point of the book is how one can hurt others. Shimamoto, who Hajime stopped visiting after he started to attend a different middle school than she did, was broken after after Hajime left her and even 25 years later the wounds he inflicted on her were still fresh. Hajime lost Izumi because he started sleeping with her cousin, However, that did not matter much because he was probably going to dump her soon after he started attending college in Tokyo. Yukiko, Hajime's ever faithful wife, was taken for granted by her husband, and he was willing to dump her and their children when Shimamoto returned to his life. an excellent book that shows the ways in which conceitedness can not only hurt other people but themselves as well

This book (my first exposure) to Murakami starts off slow and mundane to the point of boredom, but before long you realize you are in the hands of a master. Like a marathon versus a sprint, the mundane realism allows Murakami to unveil with perfect pitch and timing the story of an only child and his long-lost childhood girlfriend (also an only child) who now, still beautiful in her late thirties, lives under mysterious circumstances and comes to see him in his upscale bar. Murakami reportedly translated into Japanese Raymond Carver, who never wrote a novel. It shows. Less is more here, and each revelation at the level of plot conceals something deeper about life. I loved the subtlety of the ending that brings to a naturalistic crescendo the novel-long tropes of walking, rainfall, and the curious eponymous "place" of the title. Inspiring-a minimalist masterpiece that inspired me with a desire to write, and to read more Murakami.

I can't believe I'm the first person to review this incredible novel. If you like your fiction with a touch of the surreal you'll love this book. It starts out as a typical mystery of man looking for his wife who has disappeared but it takes many weird twists that can not be explained but have to be experienced. If you watched Twin Peaks and remember the log lady, the weird giant and that freaky speaking dwarf with fondness then Murakami is the author for you.