Haruki Murakami – The New York Times

Reviews of Haruki Murakami’s Books

‘Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: Twenty-Four Stories’ (2006)
Reviewed by TERRENCE RAFFERTY
A career-spanning grab bag of short stories from Haruki Murakami.

‘Kafka on the Shore’ (2005)
Reviewed by LAURA MILLER
Murakami’s novels are obscure but bewitching. “Kafka on the Shore” is no exception, although it is a departure in other ways.

‘After the Quake: Stories’ (2002)
Reviewed by JEFF GILES
These stories convey the emotional aftershocks of the 1995 earthquake in Kobe

‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ and ‘Underground’ (2001)
Reviewed by DANIEL ZALEWSKI
Murakami’s novel plots the course of a young Japanese woman who disappears in Greece. “Underground” is collection of interviews by Murakami with people connected to the deadly 1995 gas attack on Tokyo’s subway system.

‘Norwegian Wood’ (2000)
Reviewed by JANICE P. NIMURA
An early novel by Murakami, about late-60’s love, owes a debt to the Beatles.

‘South of the Border, West of the Sun’ (1999)
Reviewed by MARY HAWTHORNE
Two childhood sweethearts discover their love years later in Murakami’s novel.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1997)
Reviewed by JAMIE JAMES
Postwar Japan is adrift, eating fast food and wearing Van Halen T-shirts.

‘Dance Dance Dance’ (1994)
Reviewed by HERBERT MITGANG
“Dance Dance Dance” is the liveliest example of Murakami’s frequent-flier fiction.

‘The Elephant Vanishes: Stories’ (1993)
Reviewed by DAVID LEAVITT
The characters in these stories spend time at McDonald’s, light up Marlboros, listen to Bruce Springsteen records and watch Woody Allen movies as a prelude to romance.

‘A Wild Sheep Chase’ (1989)
Reviewed by HERBERT MITGANG
“A Wild Sheep Chase” is a bold new advance in a category of international fiction that could be called the trans-Pacific novel.