Haruki Murakami

In spite of the perpetrators' intentions, the Tokyo gas attack left only twelve people dead, but thousands were injured and many suffered serious after-effects. Murakami interviews the victims to try and establish precisely what happened on the subway that day. He also interviews members and ex-members of the doomsdays cult responsible, in the hope that they might be able to explain the reason for the attack and how it was that their guru instilled such devotion in his followers. ** Murakami’s new novel is coming ** COLORLESS TSUKURU TAZAKI AND HIS YEARS OF PILGRIMAGE 'The reason why death had such a hold on Tsukuru Tazaki was clear. One day his four closest friends, the friends he’d known for a long time, announced that they did not want to see him, or talk with him, ever again'

Underground

This account of the 1995 gas attack on the Tokyo subway system by a Japanese religious cult is told, based on hundreds of interviews with survivors, relatives of those who died, and the perpetrators.

The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche

Berat banget. I always steer away from war theme because facing human's capability of unreasonable cruelty gives me bad anxiety. Can't handle the cognitive dissonance. Terrorism is terrifying on the same note and this time, is not a theme, it's basically a documentary. The bare real terror of it makes the book so difficult to read i actually need 3 months to finish. I need to stop so many times because every chapter kinda eats up my life force (also i had a reading slump and this is not exactly the best book to read when i'm lazy). I cried every other chapter for the victims, and the interview with aum member's adds new layer of what i think it means to be human. It's easy to ask 'what's wrong with them?', but reading this book i can't help thinking 'what's wrong with us and our society? Where did everything go wrong? What does it mean to be able to live so peacefully when this happened somewhere? Do we have in us what they have in them that allows them to make such decision?' and that's just some among other things you'll come to contemplate as you flip the pages. It doesn't help that Murakami is such a great writer. The book seems matter-of-factly written but it will evoke your emotion hard so many times. Because it's the reality that hurts and his writing delivers. It's over all exhausting, enraging, horrifying, and confusing, but it's very informative and kind of perspective-changing. We need to know that the world is messed up and these kinds of tragedy happened.

Btw lega banget udah selesai baca buku ini huhu mau balik baca buku senang-senang lagi aja TT

Reihan Maulana

** spoiler alert **
           I just finished reading "Underground" and I have to say, it really left an impact on me.

It's all about the 1995 terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway system and it's so powerful to read about the victims and their experiences. It's a tough read but it's also so important, it makes you think about how something like this can happen and how people can come out of something so tragic.

I shed tears several times, in sympathy to some of them. He was able to showcase how people was affected (in diverse levels) by that gas attack. 

The part about Shizuko Akashi is overwhelming, Murakami treats her with fantastic tenderness and respect for the way she struggled through those horrifying injuries.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a better understanding of the impact of a tragedy on people and society.

Cindy Lieberman

A two-part collection of interviews with people who were affected by or connected with the Saran gas attacks in the Japan subway system. The majority of the book is a compilation of interviews with survivors as well as immediate family members of those who lost their lives. The book also includes interviews with former and current members of the cult that was responsible for the coordinated attacks.

Sanat Gersappa

Just skimmed through this one as it did not hold my interest. I can appreciate the effort that went into this book - interviewing all kinds of people and getting them to talk about a crazy event and their personal feelings is not easy. However, I enjoy this author's fiction better than his non-fiction, so I'll stick with that.

Underground

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