MattMueller

This article has put forth a lot of points regarding Murakami that I had had thought about. It’s nice to have it all conveniently packed here in an article for me.

Despite reading many of his works and being what I suppose you’d call a ‘fan,’ I find myself figuratively rolling my eyes at his repeated inclusion of a few story elements, like his propensity for jazz and each protagonist being ideal readers/bookworms. This, coupled with his identical writing style and tone throughout each of his books, makes his novels seems stale after a while. Not saying that a writer shouldn’t recycle elements, after all, that’s what makes it their signature style, but if each novel, stripped to its basic elements, are the same, there’s kind of an issue.

This was a pretty spectacular list. I felt that each choice was carefully deliberated on and you made good cases for each one. My only gripe with it is the three Breaking Bad characters. While it’s great to note the nuances of them, in a short list like this, I can’t help but think that you may be a little bias to that show.

The Hobbit’s barrel scene was pretty spectacular, almost everyone I know highlights that moment as a favorite. It was a bit disappointing, however, to find that Smaug’s character was quickly derailed into a simple dog chasing its prey. I was hoping for a longer riddle scene between him and Bilbo, reminiscent of Riddles in the Dark from the 1st movie. I think if portrayed how he was in the novel, that scene could have been the greatest.