My favourite of hers are Good bye Tsugumi and Premonition, but I really loved everyone that I read . She has a very light way to go deep the core of who we are as human beings . Love her !
I recently re-read A Wild Sheep Chase and A Wind-up Bird Chronicle and it's made me realize I just don't understand when people say Murakami's women characters or non-MC characters are half-baked or not fully developed. Sure, of course, a lot of Murakami's women characters are one-dimensional/related to sex, but a lot of them are also very well-fleshed out/certainly not half-baked, this applies to the men too. Yes, the protagonist's woman companion in A Wild Sheep Chase is barely developed, but the protagonist himself doesn't even have a name. As for well-developed female characters, what about May Kasahara in Wind-up Bird? She got multiple full-length chapters devoted to her and her work at the hat factory and her dreams/desires/history. So did Creta Kano and her story about her pain and near-brush with death. So did Lieutenant Mamiya and his experience in the war in Manchuria. Did people just gloss over these chapters or forget about them because they were tangents from the main plotline?
I agree that the criticism is a little overblown at times. I'm not a woman though so I've always just assumed that I don't have the right lens to view it through, and I don't want to discount people who have an issue with his writing.
@@vellichor_ventures I'm a woman and I realized I've just blocked out the books that piss me off (Norweigan Wood) and only remember the good ones (Wind-up Bird Chronicle).
I just ordered "Kitchen" from my local library so I have not read any of Banana Yoshimoto's work yet but it has been said many times that male authors focus on plot/storyline while female authors focus on character development. For the most part, I have found this to be true and I think that's one of the reasons that Murakami is known for writing incomplete female characters and not developing them further. Many of his male characters get the same treatment if they are not the protagonist and even then there are many holes left in their development and the story itself. I think that's just how he writes. As always, I loved your take on things and thanks for making this video.
Thanks for watching! I agree about Murakami and the lack of depth in his characters. I don't really even see it as a criticism necessarily, he just writes in a different style.
Interestingly, Banana Yoshimoto and Ryu Murakami were next Japanese authors I familiarised myself with after reading quite a chunk of Haruki Murakami's works. And Banana's books just didn't work for me. I wonder is it because of the poor translation or something else...
Hot take: I did not enjoy "Kitchen" by Banana Yoshimoto. I didn't connect with the characters at all, they were written like vessels carrying out actions rather than people with emotions that I could understand. I couldn't feel the emotions/motivations experienced by her characters. Ironically, I think Murakami's the one who's good at romanticizing the mundane and highlighting the small spaces in between big life events.
Murakami's mundanity has always felt like table setting to me rather than the focus of his work. His work has a lot of emotion in it but in a totally different register than Banana's.
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My favourite of hers are Good bye Tsugumi and Premonition, but I really loved everyone that I read . She has a very light way to go deep the core of who we are as human beings . Love her !
thank you for this incredible piece
Thanks for watching!
I recently re-read A Wild Sheep Chase and A Wind-up Bird Chronicle and it's made me realize I just don't understand when people say Murakami's women characters or non-MC characters are half-baked or not fully developed. Sure, of course, a lot of Murakami's women characters are one-dimensional/related to sex, but a lot of them are also very well-fleshed out/certainly not half-baked, this applies to the men too. Yes, the protagonist's woman companion in A Wild Sheep Chase is barely developed, but the protagonist himself doesn't even have a name. As for well-developed female characters, what about May Kasahara in Wind-up Bird? She got multiple full-length chapters devoted to her and her work at the hat factory and her dreams/desires/history. So did Creta Kano and her story about her pain and near-brush with death. So did Lieutenant Mamiya and his experience in the war in Manchuria. Did people just gloss over these chapters or forget about them because they were tangents from the main plotline?
I agree that the criticism is a little overblown at times. I'm not a woman though so I've always just assumed that I don't have the right lens to view it through, and I don't want to discount people who have an issue with his writing.
@@vellichor_ventures I'm a woman and I realized I've just blocked out the books that piss me off (Norweigan Wood) and only remember the good ones (Wind-up Bird Chronicle).
I just ordered "Kitchen" from my local library so I have not read any of Banana Yoshimoto's work yet but it has been said many times that male authors focus on plot/storyline while female authors focus on character development. For the most part, I have found this to be true and I think that's one of the reasons that Murakami is known for writing incomplete female characters and not developing them further. Many of his male characters get the same treatment if they are not the protagonist and even then there are many holes left in their development and the story itself. I think that's just how he writes. As always, I loved your take on things and thanks for making this video.
Thanks for watching! I agree about Murakami and the lack of depth in his characters. I don't really even see it as a criticism necessarily, he just writes in a different style.
"The Premonition" is one of those books that helped me appreciate the internal universe of a character more than the journey they're set on.
I haven’t read that one yet! During the pandemic I bought a bunch of her books and I’ve been slowly making my way through them.
Interestingly, Banana Yoshimoto and Ryu Murakami were next Japanese authors I familiarised myself with after reading quite a chunk of Haruki Murakami's works. And Banana's books just didn't work for me. I wonder is it because of the poor translation or something else...
I agree I didn't like Banana's "Kitchen" so I haven't tried reading any of her others.
Have you read any Sayaka Murata?
@@vellichor_ventures No, this is the first time I hear about this author to be honest :-)
Hot take: I did not enjoy "Kitchen" by Banana Yoshimoto. I didn't connect with the characters at all, they were written like vessels carrying out actions rather than people with emotions that I could understand. I couldn't feel the emotions/motivations experienced by her characters. Ironically, I think Murakami's the one who's good at romanticizing the mundane and highlighting the small spaces in between big life events.
Murakami's mundanity has always felt like table setting to me rather than the focus of his work. His work has a lot of emotion in it but in a totally different register than Banana's.