Popular Hits of the Showa Era

Llego antes de la fecha límite y en buenas condiciones. Lo recomiendo.

Did not enjoy the register-hopping translation at all, unfortunately.

Una historia cargada de humor, una sucesión de crímenes enlazados por la casualidad y la venganza. Merece la pena echar el rato con esta novela.

I've read a lot of Murakami Ryu's books and this is one of the best. Its really well written and flows easily, you kind of get into a rhythm with his books that carries you along. The dialogue is funny and often shocking at the same time. If I had to put my finger on a main theme I'd probably say trauma and re-building after trauma.My favourite scene is towards the end when two of the characters go to a convenience store and ask the clerk for food that will "warm the cockles of the heart", and the clerk gets the manager who undertakes the task really seriously. I like those kind of random but funny moments that make reading the gory bits a bit more meaningful.If you like hard boiled realism its probably not for you as the story is really out there, but if you like witty narration and the odd poignant moment its a winner.The title is kind of off-putting because it seems like its going to be a book with lots of fan-boy style pop culture references. There are a few of those, but nothing that stops it being a great book by a great author.

Is there any explanation for all the rage and violence festering around the world? Perhaps. Murakami may be explaining it (sort of) in this novel - but on an intimate human scale.The plot centers around two bizarre groups. Six young men strangely lacking in normal emotions drift together and start partying on a regular basis. And six loveless women in their late thirties, with nothing in common but the name Midori, meet regularly to socialize.In both groups the members talk to each other without listening, eat awful food, drink a lot and play at karaoke. Their get-togethers are mindless and ritualistic.Violence erupts and escalates between these two groups with a shocking progression that's both unbelievable and totally involving and convincing. I'm leaving out absolutely all the details so you can take the stomach-churning roller-coaster ride for yourself.There's also a diabolic catalyst who stirs up trouble, a junior college girl with "a smile like rotten eggs and mildewed cheese and poisonous toadstools." The brief but pernicious appearances of this astonishing character are oddly amusing.Popular tunes add yet another layer of unreality to the story. The sentiments of these songs have no meaning to the disconnected characters singing them. As one young man remarks, "Murder is the only thing that has any meaning these days."Murakami's scenes sometimes remind me of a Cezanne still life - disturbingly off balance yet doggedly colorful. He's a brilliant, idiosyncratic, weirdly funny writer who focuses on the most unexpected things. I was fascinated, for example, by his endlessly nuanced descriptions of imbecilic laughter.Popular Hits of the Showa Era is intense, but I'm glad I read it. I'd recommend it to readers who enjoy pondering the human condition - and aren't squeamish about carnage or pathology.