Philip Gabriel Boeken

Vol. 2: book three translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel

How can you save your friend's life if she doesn't want to be rescued? In a tranquil neighbourhood of Tokyo, seven teenagers wake to find their bedroom mirrors are shining. At a single touch, they are pulled from their lonely lives to a wondrous castle filled with winding stairways, watchful portraits and twinkling chandeliers. In this new sanctuary, they are confronted with a set of clues leading to a hidden room where one of them will be granted a wish. But there's a catch: if they don't leave the castle by five o'clock, they will be punished. As time passes, a devastating truth emerges: only those brave enough to share their stories will be saved.

Coming of age' roman over de 15-jarige Kafka Tamura die, om te ontkomen aan de voorspelling dat hij met zijn verdwenen moeder en zijn zus zal slapen, van huis wegloopt. Op onverklaarbare wijze wordt de jongen aangetrokken tot een bibliotheek in Takamatsu en tot de directrice, mevrouw Saeki. Kafka's pad kruist eveneens dat van het meisje Sakura, van een bibliothecaris, en van de geheimzinnige meneer Nakata, die met katten praat. De laatste was in de oorlog het slachtoffer van massahysterie en spoort niet helemaal. Als Kafka's vader op gruwelijke wijze in Tokyo vermoord wordt, raken de gebeurtenissen in een stroomversnelling.

She agrees, but as a result of her actions starts to feel increasingly detached from the real world. As they begin to decipher more about the strange world into which they have slipped, so they sense their destinies converging.

Growing up in the suburbs in post-war Japan, it seemed to Hajime that everyone but him had brothers and sisters. His sole companion was Shimamoto, also an only child. Together they spent long afternoons listening to her father's record collection. But when his family moved away, the two lost touch. Now Hajime is in his thirties. After a decade of drifting he has found happiness with his loving wife and two daughters, and success running a jazz bar. Then Shimamoto reappears. She is beautiful, intense, enveloped in mystery. Hajime is catapulted into the past, putting at risk all he has in the present. 'A story of love in a cool climate, intensely romantic and weepily beautiful...it is startlingly different: a true original' Guardian 'Casablanca remade Japanese style...It is dream-like writing, laden with scenes which have the radiance of a poem' The Times 'This wise and beautiful book is full of hidden truths' New York Times 'This book aches...an eloquent treatise on the vertiginous, irrational powers of love and desire' Independent on Sunday 'A beautiful, atmospheric novel sustained by Murakami's flair for philosophical mediation at its most human' Irish Times

We all live our lives carrying secrets we cannot disclose. 'Beguiling... Murakami is brilliant at folding the humdrum alongside the supernatural; finding the magic that's nested in life's quotidian details' Guardian When a thirty-something portrait painter is abandoned by his wife, he holes up in the mountain home of a famous artist. The days drift by, spent painting, listening to music and drinking whiskey in the evenings. But then he discovers a strange painting in the attic and unintentionally begins a strange journey of self-discovery that involves a mysterious ringing bell, a precocious thirteen-year-old girl, a Nazi assassination attempt and a haunted underworld. A stunning work of imagination, Killing Commendatore is a surreal tale of love and loneliness, war and art.

Part romance, part detective story, Sputnik Sweetheart tells the story of a tangled triangle of uniquely unrequited love. Now with a new introduction from the author. K is madly in love with his best friend, Sumire, but her devotion to a writerly life precludes her from any personal commitments. At least, that is, until she meets an older woman to whom she finds herself irresistibly drawn. When Sumire disappears from an island off the coast of Greece, K is solicited to join the search party—and finds himself drawn back into her world and beset by ominous visions. Subtle and haunting, Sputnik Sweetheart is a profound meditation on human longing.

Haruki Murakami bewijst met deze fantastische verhalenbundel opnieuw dat hij elke literaire vorm beheerst. Blinde wilg, slapende vrouw bestrijkt het hele spectrum van de menselijke ervaring. De mysterieuze verhalen variëren in sfeer van surrealistisch tot alledaags. De lezer vindt krassende kraaien, een misdadige aap en een ijscoman op zijn pad, en wordt geconfronteerd met de dromen die ons leven bepalen en de wensen die we koesteren. Bij een onverwachte ontmoeting in Italië, een romantische ballingschap in Griekenland, een vakantie op Hawaii of in de greep van het dagelijks leven worden de personages geraakt – door het opgloeien van een vuurvliegje, een pijnlijk verlies, opvlammende erotiek en de schrijnende afstand tussen mensen die eigenlijk snakken naar elkaars nabijheid.

In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, the author began running to keep fit. A year later, he'd completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and on his writing. This title presents his portrait.

A young woman is brutally murdered on a remote mountain road. A young construction worker, Yuichi, is on the run - but is he guilty? This is the dark heart of Japan; a world of seedy sex hotels and decaying seaside towns; a world of loneliness, violence and desperation. As the police close in on Yuichi and his new lover, the stories of the victim, the murderer and their families are uncovered. But these men and women are never what they appear to be...