After having lived all my life in an area without real seasons, I have very fond memories of listening to Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World while

After having lived all my life in an area without real seasons, I have very fond memories of listening to Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World while walking my dog regularly but aimlessly in a forest as the leaves began to change. It felt almost surreal, and paired quite naturally with Murakami’s dreamy but lucid world building. I haven’t read the original, and don’t understand Japanese, but the translation certainly didn’t feel, to me, like a translation. In 1Q84, a central character plays a role in rewriting a work, so the translation process must be front of mind for Murakami. Perhaps Birnbaum is his very own Tengo when adapting his works to English.