I reread Murakami's first, "kitchen table novels" on the trip to DC. They reveal some talent, without being great. The characters are rather aimless and passive, and the rhythmic punctuation of the narrative is done with smoking and drinking. This gets monotonous. The translation captures the aimless nonchalance of what I am assuming is the same tone in the original. Reading in English is certainly better (for me) than in Catalan, since the English translator can get the tone that way. Either the Catalan translators use a neutral tone, or I am incapable of hearing tonal nuances in Catalan.
I also started Kafka on the Shore, which I found in Christina's bedroom in my brother's house, where I was staying. (That's the guest bedroom now.) I have a copy of this novel in my office so I will pick it up next time I go in, along with the rest of my Murakami novels.
Reading a book ten years later (after one's initial reading) means two things: one is a different person now, and one has forgotten a lot of it.
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