Name: The Strange Library
Rating: 3.516778523489933 (149 reviews)
ISBN: 9780385354301

村上春樹

In a fantastical illustrated short novel, three people imprisoned in a nightmarish library plot their escape.

The Strange Library

This is a short story regarding imprisonment and escape. It all starts out of the blue and is rather gripping. The ending is also pretty good and allows you to reflect regarding the book altogether. However I did not find any connection to the book as it felt too short for me, was expecting something more.

edit: looking back the book feels rather pointless, as if the author just randomly freestyled whatever he dreamt off

Aarush Arora

This is a short story regarding imprisonment and escape. It all starts out of the blue and is rather gripping. The ending is also pretty good and allows you to reflect regarding the book altogether. However I did not find any connection to the book as it felt too short for me, was expecting something more.

edit: looking back the book feels rather pointless, as if the author just randomly freestyled whatever he dreamt off

Colton Ray

This was the most pointless thing I've ever read and has only cemented my decision to never waste my time on this overrated author.

maderinn⟢

What a strange book, living up to it’s title “The Strange Library.” I appreciate the vivid, colourful illustrations that paints and welcomes each chapter. Having read his other works before, this was very Murakami-esque indeed. It’s a foretaste of his world—elements of surrealism, explorations of alienation and loneliness, gritty moments but also soft ones that inclines you to look within. The fine line between the conscious and the unconscious starts to blur. Reading it was a wonderful dream, but on the other spectrum, bizarrely horrific too.

Christine Kraus

This book was super odd, but made me super entranced. The amount of imagination present in the small amount of pages is frankly quite inspiring, and yet each of the oddities also called back to each other. I feel that this is the kind of book that will reveal something new upon each reading, and now I long to read more by Murakami in the future!

Deepika Ramesh

Maybe, on a rainy day, when I want to read something super short, and see some quaint pictures, I will seek The Strange Library‘s help that day again. Full review here: https://worncorners.wordpress.com/201...

Wynter

Short and sweet - a real treat when you are craving some classic Murakami. Dive into the weird and enjoy this dream-like story, but don't expect to understand what just happened.

Matthew Royal

having read kafka in chinese i would definitely say murakami’s books work better with chinese translation

this feels like the type of thing that would get me a fail if i write it in school but would be heavily analysed just because it was written by an actual author 

but i am digging it i love to see how peculiar human imagination is 

archie

having read kafka in chinese i would definitely say murakami’s books work better with chinese translation

this feels like the type of thing that would get me a fail if i write it in school but would be heavily analysed just because it was written by an actual author 

but i am digging it i love to see how peculiar human imagination is 

Hellboy TCR

Read it after seeing Sasidharan's translation Malayalam Weekly. He shouldn't do translations. This is a typical Murakami work, I think he himself will hate the ending though.

High Fidelity

Rucha Phatak

The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami was an experience in itself. The way the book is designed intrigues the reader to delve inside this strange, almost diabolic library. You may want to run away from it and never want to leave it at the same time!

Amy Grieve

The art style of this illustrated novel certainly wasn't my cup of tea. I don't feel like it added anything to the story other than make it feel more surreal. To me story didn't make much sense either, perhaps the essence of the story was lost in translation or simply has more significance in Japanese culture.

Jason Porterfield

This is a gorgeously packaged short story, the colorful illustrations belie its bleak heart. It holds a lot, for a tale that takes all of 20 minutes to read.

The Strange Library

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