> I've often wondered how much of my opinion I could chalk up to translation. I think I understand your point, but I reckon a good translation is far from hear

> I've often wondered how much of my opinion I could chalk up to translation. I think I understand your point, but I reckon a good translation is far from hearsay. That said, I have never taken a single book, and read multiple translations of it. Perhaps someone has, and can determine how big a difference an individual translator has on the work of the original author... But I've read a handful of Murakami books now, and this post made me think about that. Most recently, I'd read 'Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki', as translated by Phillip Gabriel, and 'Norwegian Wood', translated by Jay Rubin. Now every book is different of course, but while the stories are different, all the Murakami books tend to rely on a number of tropes, which seem to appear in all his books (at least the one's I've read), no matter who translates them... Strong female characters, especially supporting characters. Explicit, but not overt, references to sex. Fleeting, but highly edifying references to classical music. Numerous references to drink... It felt like I was reading the same author, for sure. Hard Boiled Wonderland was my first Murakami... The odd conjoined narrative made me think of Final Fantasy 8 a lot for some reason (which also had a strange twin narrative). I thought the book was at it's best when he was trying to work out what was happening to him...