I quit reading it about 3/4 of the way through and wish I’d stopped earlier.

Life is too short to force yourself to finish books you don’t enjoy.

Stay with it. I can’t say more or I’d spoil it. If you don’t like magic realism (Gabriel Garcia Marques, Salman Rushdie eat al) then, ok, maybe it’s not for you.

You either love it or your don't. It's definitely a polarizing one. You may not quite know in which camp you reside until you're almost at the end.

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I only got halfway until I gave up. Murakami can totally cast a spell, and (alas) can swing and miss as well.

I enjoy Murakami's writing, and I've read a few of his books.

1Q84 just didn't do it for me. I've seen some people say they love it, and some say they didn't like it. I think if you're just reading it to finish it, then I would probably drop it.

Exactly. That's something I learn at my 20s. If you don't like a book is ok. Maybe is not your genre or maybe is not the right time. But if your really wanna 'love' magic realism try with Kafka on the shore. 1Q84 and 100 hundred years of solitude are heavy to read.

I’m thinking about trying different books from him, I do plan on leaving this one be

If you aren’t feeling it, stop and don’t feel any guilt. Most people don’t have that much free time in their life between work, school, family, etc and it isn’t worth spending that precious time doing something you don’t enjoy. I love Murakami’s work because I really enjoy the magical realism and surreal elements and I’m fine with powering through all the weird horny parts to get to the fun stuff. Other people struggle with the weird horniness or don’t enjoy his style of dialogue which is completely fine. There are plenty of other great authors out there.

I’m not really asking if I should keep doing, I know I don’t want to finish it, at least not now, I’m just curious why other people love it

Understandable, sorry I missed the point lol.

Honestly 1) it’s not worth it, the ending is very bad, and 2) people like it bc they like the writing style enough they are willing to give a pass to the weird misogyny and >!sexual abuse of children which is never really critiqued by the book!<.

I was like you, but i powered through to finish it hoping for some kind of payoff. there was none and it’s one of the worst books i’ve read. It’s about 500 pages too long and meanders forever without saying anything

>bc they like the writing style enough they are willing to give a pass to the weird misogyny and sexual abuse of children which is never really critiqued by the book.

This is literally all I ever hear about the book, and folks who enjoy it are usually massively downvoted

Wind-up Bird Chronicle is a similar concept but a much better book.

Please post 'Should I keep reading' questions, in our Weekly Recommendation Thread.

Wind-up Bird Chronicle is my favorite for sure, I also like Kafka on the Shore, and Norwegian Wood.

Would also recommend finding some of his short stories. My favorite is called Sleep.

Yeah, I couldn’t just brush over the main character loving underaged boobs and having a sexual fantasy over a kid. It wasn’t intentional like Lolita, it was just… there for no reason