Fairy Floss

While surfing the net lately, I came across a New Yorker review of Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore from 2005. The review was written by John Updike, one of Harold Bloom's Big Four and the author of a book I reviewed here.

Updike's review contained a couple passages and quotes from the text to illustrate his point that Kafka on the Shore is a great work. He includes the following:

“Actually getting closer to a metaphorical truth? Or metaphorically getting closer to an actual truth? Or maybe they supplement each other?”

Yes, this is the way human beings in Murakami novels speak. I know I'm cherry picking, but this is just terrible. This is the setup to a sight-gag in a Dave Chappelle skit. This is the passage a person on acid would read to convince the listener Murakami is deep. This isn't deep. It's fairy floss.

I've read two Murakami novels (this one and Norwegian Wood) and I've not enjoyed either. The first forty pages of Norwegian Wood were filled with transcendent imagery, but eventually the characters opened their mouths and word vomit like that quote above exited. When I finished the second, I shut my door on Murakami. Some authors, I'm just not going to connect with, I accept that. To be honest, when I saw that Updike had written the review of Kafka on the Shore, I was hoping that by understanding his feelings on Murakami, I could better appreciate not only Murakami but Updike as well. When I finished the review, I knew that would not be the case.

An author I don't connect with being reviewed by another author I don't connect with. I think I'm done with both of them.