≡ Download Free Underground The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche Haruki Murakami 9780099461098 Books

Underground The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche Haruki Murakami 9780099461098 Books

Download As PDF : Underground The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche Haruki Murakami 9780099461098 Books

Underground The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche Haruki Murakami 9780099461098 Books

I read this because I love Murakami. I had never heard of the Tokyo gas attacks, and now am frankly pretty surprised it had never come up in the US.

Anyhow, Murakami mostly stays out of his subjects' ways in the first portion of the book. He lets survivors speak for themselves and neither he nor the translator make many intrusions, unless it's to clarify some detail (usually the translator notes are for people like me who don't have any background knowledge about the attacks).

It's really interesting to see how people viewed the same situation differently--there are several times when one survivor will describe a person that later tells their own story of the event, and both are pretty different. Despite this being a really cool perspective, it can get a tiny bit repetitive, but it's worth it to stick it out and finish the book.

The last section of the book is Murakami's reflections on what the gas attacks meant in the broader context of Japanese society and interviews with ex and current Aum members. During this, he waxes philosophical about his own complex relationship with his home country.As a western fan who has never visited Japan I found this fascinating. It's easy to pick up on themes feeling isolated or like something is wrong in your society (or the way you relate to it) in his other books, but it was very interesting to see him speak directly about these thoughts.

He's more intrustive in the Aum section, which I actually appreciate--his anger at the naive beleifs that led to so many deaths is palpable, and most of his interviewees don't shrink back from it.

Overall, a really good read if you're interested in Japan, terrorism, cults or just Haruki Murakami.


Tags : Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche [Haruki Murakami] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. 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,Haruki Murakami,Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche,VintageEbury (a Division of Random,0099461099,Cults,Politics Current Events,Security (National & International),Terrorism,True Crime

Underground The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche Haruki Murakami 9780099461098 Books Reviews

Murakami writes damn cool novels. He has earned entirely different respect from me as a damn fine (strikingly pragmatic) cross examiner/interviewer

The text can be broken into three distinct sections.

interviews with perps
interviews with victims
interviews with non-combat cult members in wake of attacks

at several times I was worried that Murakami's rhetoric was leading to "blame the system, not the perp" but this was clearly not the case. He only allotted as much blame as sanely due, given that the Tokyo municipality clearly provided absolutely zero logistic coordination, and people allotted to much blame to the cult rather than structures/bodies like the cult.

I am damn glad the attackers were as incompetent in brewing the sarin as they were, my solid sympathies to those effected.
The Nobel Prize in Literature should be in the future for Huraki Murakami; it is past-due. Frankly, I had no particular interest in further exploring the underground sarin attack in Japan until I saw the author's name. I buy and read any book that he has written. Each one brings some new intriguing, creative and challenging plot. Often they are so complex that a second or even a third reading is rewarding - such as Kafka on the Shore and The Wild Sheep Chase. In this book Murakami becomes a journalist who engages the reader immediately in the event he is about to explore. Each interview is but a seed for a full-grown plot and the final section, which is straight narrative from the author is the most interesting of all. He has a brilliant mind which is always seeking the "meaning" of an event even when it is elusive as this one.
Quite simply one of the best books I've ever read. I feel haunted by it - by both the stories of the survivors of the Tokyo subway attack, and by the interviews with the Aum members. And Murakami's own thoughts were brilliant and thought-provoking. I would recommend this book to anyone, even if you're not interested in the subject - it was honestly THAT good.
The novel starts off a bit slow as it focuses on the those personally affected by the crime. It picks up steam as he delves into the cult members. Most are extremely odd and delusional, which is to be expected. Murakami allows them to open up and express their strange and twisted perspectives......which does make for an interesting read. I really enjoyed this nonfiction effort from my new favorite author. Another example where "Truth can be be stranger then fiction"
I read this because I love Murakami. I had never heard of the Tokyo gas attacks, and now am frankly pretty surprised it had never come up in the US.

Anyhow, Murakami mostly stays out of his subjects' ways in the first portion of the book. He lets survivors speak for themselves and neither he nor the translator make many intrusions, unless it's to clarify some detail (usually the translator notes are for people like me who don't have any background knowledge about the attacks).

It's really interesting to see how people viewed the same situation differently--there are several times when one survivor will describe a person that later tells their own story of the event, and both are pretty different. Despite this being a really cool perspective, it can get a tiny bit repetitive, but it's worth it to stick it out and finish the book.

The last section of the book is Murakami's reflections on what the gas attacks meant in the broader context of Japanese society and interviews with ex and current Aum members. During this, he waxes philosophical about his own complex relationship with his home country.As a western fan who has never visited Japan I found this fascinating. It's easy to pick up on themes feeling isolated or like something is wrong in your society (or the way you relate to it) in his other books, but it was very interesting to see him speak directly about these thoughts.

He's more intrustive in the Aum section, which I actually appreciate--his anger at the naive beleifs that led to so many deaths is palpable, and most of his interviewees don't shrink back from it.

Overall, a really good read if you're interested in Japan, terrorism, cults or just Haruki Murakami.