The best of Murakami’s most magical books

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese author whose works are bestsellers across the globe. Though originally written in Japanese, they have been translated into almost 50 languages and have won several international and literary awards. His work encompasses several genres and his unique style is popular among the readers all over the world. Here are some of his best books you can pick up to start reading his work.

The story follows an artist who while isolated in the home of a famous artist, finds a painting in the attic. The strange circumstances that follow involve a bell, a businessman, the manifestation of ideas, an assassination and a teenage girl. Yet due to Murakami's style, the story flows in a riveting manner and has a lot of poignant themes.
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The latest of Murakami’s books, Men Without Women is a short story collection tells different tales of different lives connected to each other by an apparent state of loneliness. Every story of the book has a male protagonist suffering the loss of a woman or the pang of unrequited love. Murakami's language in Men Without Women is erotically constructed, glorifying the sexual fervour of men as existential loneliness.
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This coming-of-age novel of betrayal and forgivenss follows Tsukuru Tazaki who spends much of the story trying to understand why his circle of friends in high school expelled him from their group shortly after he left Nagoya to attend college in Tokyo. His quest for understanding takes him to Finland, where he confronts some hard truths about his own inner self.
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This short novel set in Tokyo covers a story spanning from midnight to dawn and follows the story of Eli and Mari, two young sisters. A series of events throughout the night keep Mari occupied as she keeps meeting a number of new people who significantly change her perspective to life in some way or the other.
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The story narrates two separate yet intertwined plots, interchanging between them with each paragraph or chapter. Like Murakami’s other novels, Kafka on the Shore blends pop culture, magic realism, and sexuality, albeit this time with a larger focus on Japanese religious traditions.

Norwegian Wood follows the story of Toru Watanabe and his experiences with two women during his student years. Set 1960s Tokyo, saw one of the first depictions of student revolution, and inspired many with a passion for contemporary politics and social action during the 80s when it was first published.
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The story follows the adventures of a commercial writer, who remains unnamed throughout the novel. He is forced to return to a hotel where he once stayed with a woman he loved, though he never learnt her real name.
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The book centres around an unnamed hero who takes on a political-business-industry syndicate with apparently limitless money and power, and he does it on his own terms. This mock detective novel employs certain interesting elements to enhance the themes of Japanese cultural identity after World War II, sexuality, and Japanese religious traditions.
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Narrated by a 21-year-old, the book explores him at the cusp of adulthood trying to grapple the concept of change and loss. The narrator never names himself but refers to his best friend as the Rat. They often go to a bar where they have existential discussions while sipping beer.
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This story is about a primary school teacher in love with his friend Sumire. Murakami, once again, weaves a surreal universe too intoxicating to not fall for. The book will take the reader on a journey from Japan to Europe and ultimately to an island off the coast of Greece.
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A take on George Orwell’s classic “Nineteen Eighty Four”, this dystopian novel focuses on a young woman, Aomame, following a taxi driver’s suggestion to notice discrepancies going around in life, enters a parallel existence and in course, her narrative converges with the aspiring writer’s, Tengo.
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In the book, Murakami weaves two time periods using a retrospective narrative, and tells a story of how power is employed and exploited. The protagonist, Toru Okada, is forced to develop an inner strength when his wife goes missing. She falls victim to her brother, a politician, who has mastered some sort of mind control over less mentally stable people.
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