Reading the afterward makes this book make total sense. The City and Its Uncertain Walls feels like a little bit of everything from Haruki Murakami's best work. It has a bit of straightforward romance a la Norwegian Wood, two strange libraries, plus the weird and wonderful fantastical elements he's come to be known for. It even has more Beatles references. So it makes sense that this novel began as a short story written much earlier in his career that he's now come back to and reworked.

It's definitely not my new favorite Murakami but it excels in all his usuals. I enjoyed digging into this novel if it was a tad long.

An ode to the dreamers, who may feel out of place or time or self, The City and its Uncertain Walls was a thoughtful and engrossing read at the end of which I felt that all the time and no time at all had passed. Loved the discourse on learning to trust and believe oneself and choosing to move forward even when it feels so much easier to stay still. Found some parts a little iffy or at least good topics for more discussion like the descriptions of the young girl, the boy who has a disability/reads dreams, and singlehood!

This book was out of my comfort zone and I figured I'd try something new. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone, as this just isn't my style but it did keep me occupied and kept my attention for a bit, I'm just not sure if it's something I'd read again.

In The City and Its Uncertain Walls, Haruki Murakami revisits themes of memory, love, and isolation through a surreal story set in a mysterious walled city. Blending reality with dreamlike elements, the novel follows a man reflecting on a lost love and the strange, shadowless world he enters. While it may feel familiar to longtime Murakami readers, it offers a quiet, introspective journey rich in emotion and atmosphere.

In all fairness, I don’t always *get* Murakami. My literal brain has a hard time with the meanderings and weavings into and out of reality. But the premise of this book really captivated me, so I thought I’d give it a try. And I’m glad I did! But I just couldn’t finish it. I do sometimes find myself wondering about the characters and the setting like it’s my own little dream world, so I might come back to it some day. I think fans of Murakami will likely love The City and Its Uncertain Walls, and I believe if I weren’t quite such a literal-brained person, I wouldn’t have had to move so slowly through this novel. It really is a beautiful story and Murakami is a masterful storyteller, so I’m giving it 4 stars even though it was a DNF for me!

This is one of those books that I really wanted to enjoy but ended up struggling with. I’ve only read one other Murakami (After the Quake) and I enjoyed it much more so potentially I am not the target audience for this full length novels. That being said I felt like the beginning of this book was unnecessarily repetitive and I feel like a lot of the symbolism in this book felt too obvious (but also convoluted?). I’m also not a huge fan of Murakamis portrayal of women generally and this was not an exception.

The premise is really interesting and I enjoyed learning more about the setting. However I just don’t think I’m the target audience for this kind of read. Might pick up more of his short stories in the future instead!

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review "The City and Its Uncertain Walls." Having read "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles," I was excited to venture into another world by Murakami. This novel written in three parts takes the reader into a world where one wonders who is the self and who is the shadow? An imaginative town is found where unicorns exists and the library is only filled with dreams. This novel was originally a novella and I believe that it would have been better had it stayed in that format. It is a novel that readers who enjoy magical realism would like.

Unfortunately this was not for me, while I tend to love all other works by Murakami. I see what he was trying to achieve but by the middle I had lost interest in the plot and instead felt like I wanted to reread a Hard Boiled Wonderland. thank you for the opportunity!

This was a DNF for me. It was too fantastical and jumped around too much to follow. The first person POV felt very intense, like someone was trying to tell me a story while 1” away from my face. Unfortunately I was lost from the beginning.

My first Murakami. I’m not sure what I expected, and I think that was a good thing. It’s an odd book, but not in a bad way at all. It was excellent, actually, though it made me a little sad. I’m not sure why. I don’t mind. It was strange and beautiful in its own way. I’ll definitely be adding more Murakami to my TBR pile.

I received an advance copy from the publisher, all opinions are my own, and a review was not required.

As a huge fan of magical realism, the premise for Murakami's latest novel had me hooked from the start. I always love a parallel universe story and as someone who has enjoyed several of Murakami's previous works, I thought this one would be a shoe-in.

Following the early love story of two nameless individuals, we learn about a walled city and library where the librarian reads old dreams. Fascinated by this city, our male main character finds himself at the gates and later employed by this magical city - the only caveat is that he has to give up his shadow in order to reside and work within its walls.

The City and Its Walls is slow and meandering and although I fully understood the metaphors of fear and depression that it was employing, the actual plot line felt fractured. I never quite understood the main character and his motives, much of the magic in the walled city was never fully explained - like the unicorns (unless somehow I missed it) and just overall, this novel missed the mark for me. After reading the author's afterwards and seeing that the novel started as a short story and took nearly 4 decades to complete as a novel, I am not surprised.

Regardless, Murakami is a master at writing atmospheric and ethereal worlds and although the plot moved along too slowly for me, I can see others enjoying the quiet pace and messaging that is woven throughout. I always love a Japanese ghost story and the addition of such lore was welcome and the relationship that followed was probably my favorite thread in the entire novel.

Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf, and Haruki Murakami for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was thick read and my first novel from this author.

This book was quite well written even if the dialogue felt… simple? It made up in the world building and realistic sense of magic. I really enjoyed the way the sorry circled back around and at time kept me on the edge of my chair. This book was fast paced which shocked me with how quickly I devoured it given its hefty page count.

This was my first Murakami book, and I was, at first, drawn in by his dreamlike style, all the more appropriate for a book about dreams. But, as evidenced by the very long time I took to finish this book, it wasn't really to my taste. While I generally enjoyed the style of the prose, I found that the characters and plot did little work to hold the story together. Though I had many questions, I felt no real desire to see them resolved, nor any true attachment to the characters. And while I am never opposed to a long book, this one definitely felt like its length.

Great book! It had all the fears of growing up. Make a choice. Turn the page or close the book. Enter the darkness if you wish!

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley, but then I borrowed the audiobook from my library to actually read it. This is my honest review.

I don't know if this is a cultural thing, or an issue with translation, but it kind of bugged me with how simplistic the dialogue between characters was. The conversations between characters had a very "See Spot Run" feeling to them, even when both characters were full adults. But this book was translated into English and I'm not particularly familiar with Japanese culture, so either of those things could be the cause of that.

I loved the fantastical nature of the mysterious city, the way the walls shifted and moved based on the needs of the town. But I also have some questions about the inhabitants of the town, and how they came to be there in the first place. A part of me wonders if the worn is like purgatory or something similar.

The narration in the audiobook didn't have much inflection to it, which may also have contributed to me feeling like the dialogue between characters was simplistic. It didn't help pull me into the story, but it also wasn't like nails on a chalkboard to listen to.

Overall I give The City and Its Uncertain Walls 3.4723 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami!

It took me a long time to finish this chonker of a book running into 700 pages. It was not a difficult read, it is written in fairly straightforward lucid prose. However it is very repetitive in parts and definitely not gripping or unputdownable. This is a love story transcending time and reality and I really loved the concept. I liked the idea of the distinctness of the would and physical human body, a premise that finds its roots in several Eastern cultures. I read that Murakami initially intended this to be a short story and expanding it into a 700 page novel really killed the fun in my opinion. Nevertheless I was curious to know what happens next and managed to read it to the end. I also always like to respect the fact that the publisher offered me a gifted copy for a review. I would recommend this to persons who are die-hard Murakami fans and don't want to miss a single word he has written
Thank you NetGalley and Knopf Publishing for the ARC

This was my first Haruki Murakami book and I loved it. Deep, introspective. The touch of magical realism did it for me, but there were also parts that left me in suspense. What a masterful writer

I'm not the biggest Murakami fan, and I enjoyed this one as much as others I've read by him. Which is to say I found it intriguing and wonderfully imaginative and there were moments that were very moving and powerful, but there were also points where it just seemed to be spinning its wheels and trying to find its own way. I enjoyed it overall, but I'm still waiting for a Murakami novel to really blow me away.

Not Murakami's best; open-ended in a frustrating way. Probably Murakami fans will find more to like (although I found the prose distinctively inferior to some of his earlier work), but I definitely wouldn't start here.