Dance, Dance, Dance

Dance, Dance, Dance
Haruki Murakami
Alfred Birnbaum (Translator)
393pp

Just a short review for this Murakami book I read a few years ago.

This is the sequel to "Wild Sheep Chase", or actuality, the final book of the four dealing with the character of The Rat. 

Again, story is of little consequence as mostly Murakami is just in a rush to get us hooked on some mystery or search so that he can lead us on our psychological journey. Much of the book deals with the relationship between our unnamed narrator and a young girl deeply into classic rock. We follow them and search, and some people appear, just as likely to disappear, and we search... 

This one took me a while. I put it down and read other books a few times. But, about 100 pages in the characters clicked, and the old mystery style took over and swept me all the way to the end pretty quickly. (I finished the second half since yesterday). In the books connected here Murakami is almost Hitchcockian, all macguffin (seen that spelled a few different ways) and little reward beyond a psychological awakening for the main character.

Would recommend it, though some of the relationship between the hero and a thirteen year old girl was odd, but if she is taken as a representation of the things he couldn't have as a young man... Hmmm... Still odd, and really too Japanese in the worst of ways (btw, nothing happens, but it's the closeness that's odd).