Synopses & Reviews
In this haunting work of journalistic investigation, Haruki Murakami tells the story of the horrific terrorist attack on Japanese soil that shook the entire world.
On a clear spring day in 1995, five members of a religious cult unleashed poison gas on the Tokyo subway system. In attempt to discover why, Haruki Murakmi talks to the people who lived through the catastrophe, and in so doing lays bare the Japanese psyche. As he discerns the fundamental issues that led to the attack, Murakami paints a clear vision of an event that could occur anytime, anywhere.
Review
"Both a literary memorial and a frank examination of a society in search of its bearings." A.V. Club
Review
"Powerfully observed....A rattling chronicle of violence and terror." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Chilling....Murakami weaves a compelling true tale of normal lives faced with abnormal realities." Sunday Tribune
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"Through Murakami's sensitive yet relentless questioning, it emerges that the people who joined Aum felt just as adrift in the world as Murakami's own [fictional] characters do." The Guardian
About the Author
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. He is the author of the novels Sputnik Sweetheart; South of the Border, West of the Sun; The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle; Dance Dance Dance; Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World; Norwegian Wood; and A Wild Sheep Chase; and of The Elephant Vanishes, a collection of stories. His work has been translated into sixteen languages.