Okada is apparently a happy man - his domestic life seems familiar and comfortable, but admittedly he has just quit his job, the cat has disappeared and a strange woman is bothering him with explicit phone calls
" ... A novel of metaphysical reality, it is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom."--Publisher's description
Tanizaki's masterpiece is the story of four sisters, and the declining
fortunes of a traditional Japanese family. It is a loving and nostalgic
recreation of the sumptuous, intricate upper-class life of Osaka immediately
before World War Two. With surgical precision, Tanizaki lays bare the sinews
of pride, and brings a vanished era to vibrant life.
A mesmerising, epic, utterly involving masterpiece from Haruki Murakami The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that. But in this world, there are two moons in the sky. In this world, the fates of two people, Tengo and Aomame, are closely intertwined. They are each, in their own way, doing something very dangerous. And in this world, there seems no way to save them both. Something extraordinary is starting. *PRE-ORDER HARUKI MURAKAMI'S NEW NOVEL, THE CITY AND ITS UNCERTAIN WALLS, NOW* '1Q84 has a range and sophistication that surpasses anything else in his oeuvre. It is his most achieved novel; an epic in which form and content are neatly aligned' Independent on Sunday
Protagonista príbehu, ktorý je zároveň rozprávačom, je mladý, mestom znudený človek, ktorý nikam nepatrí a nikomu nechýba. Jedného dňa dostane od svojho priateľa „Krysu“ list s fotografiou, ktorú neskôr nič netušiac použije v jednom z projektov svojej reklamnej agentúry. Fotografia sa dostane do rúk osobného tajomníka „šéfa“, ktorý pohrozí nášmu hrdinovi, aby jednu z oviec na tej fotografii našiel, alebo… .Takto sa začína hon na ovcu, ktorá sa od ostatných líši „len“ hviezdou na chrbte. Hon na túto nezvyčajnú ovcu je snom, z ktorého sa len ťažko prebúdza. Sladký, keď práve snívaný, ale bizarný, keď prerozpravaný – taký je hon na ovcu s hviezdou na chrbte. Je to príbeh, ktorý najprv pohltí a neskôr neúprosne čitateľa opustí .
Tridsaťšesťročný Cukuru Tazaki pracuje v istej tokijskej železničnej firme ako architekt staničných komplexov. Na večierku u svojho nadriadeného ho zoznámia so Sarou Kimotovou, zamestnankyňou cestovnej kancelárie. Stretnutie vyústi do vzťahu, čo spôsobí v Cukuruovom živote radikálnu zmenu. Cukuru sa Sare zdôverí so zážitkom, pre ktorý pred šestnástimi rokmi stratil dôveru v ľudí, a vďaka nej sa zbavuje nechuti komunikovať s okolím a väzenia samoty. Porozpráva jej o päťčlennej partii z gymnázia, v ktorej strávil najkrajšie roky mladosti, až kým ho z nej nečakane a definitívne nevylúčili. Saru udivuje, že Cukuru nepátral po príčine takého radikálneho skutku, hoci mu strata priateľov spôsobila veľkú traumu, a nabáda ho, aby ich navštívil a požiadal o vysvetlenie. Cukuru sa rozhodne prelomiť mlčanie a postaviť sa zoči-voči minulosti.
"A dazzling new collection of short stories--the first major new work of fiction from the beloved, internationally acclaimed, Haruki Murakami since his #1 best-selling Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. Across seven tales, Haruki Murakami brings his powers of observation to bear on the lives of men who, in their own ways, find themselves alone. Here are vanishing cats and smoky bars, lonely hearts and mysterious women, baseball and the Beatles, woven together to tell stories that speak to us all. Marked by the same wry humor that has defined his entire body of work, in this collection Murakami has crafted another contemporary classic"-- Provided by publisher