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Underground

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( 20,874 ratings, 1,743 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Underground by Haruki Murakami is a compelling non-fiction exploration of the Tokyo subway sarin attack that occurred in 1995. Through interviews with survivors and members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, Murakami delves into the personal stories and societal impact of the tragedy, seeking to understand how a modern society could give rise to such an event.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you enjoy deep, reflective insights into real-life tragedies. It offers a poignant examination of the Tokyo subway sarin attack, blending personal stories with Haruki Murakami's thoughtful narrative style.

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Underground

Murakami tells the true story behind an act of terrorism that turned an average Monday morning into a national disaster.

In spite of the perpetrators' intentions, the Tokyo gas attack left only twelve people dead, but thousands were injured and many suffered serious after-effects.

Murakami shares with Alfred Hitchcock a fascination for ordinary people being suddenly plucked by extraordinary circumstances from their daily lives' Sunday Telegraph

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description
Underground by Haruki Murakami delves into the harrowing depths of one of Japan's most traumatic events: the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack that occurred on March 20, 1995. In this meticulously researched and profoundly moving work, Murakami steps away from his usual fiction to offer a compelling and intimate examination of the tragic event, methodically recounting it through the eyes of those who lived through it.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, twelve people tragically lost their lives, and thousands were injured, with many continuing to suffer from long-term effects. With a novelist's keen insight and a journalist's keen eye for detail, Murakami sets out to uncover the human face behind the tragedy. He conducts in-depth interviews with survivors, seeking to understand the full impact of that fateful day on their lives. Through their poignant and often heart-wrenching recollections, readers are given a window into the chaos and confusion that enveloped the Tokyo subway as sarin gas was released, and the heroic struggles of everyday people to protect themselves and others.

Murakami also ventures into a more controversial realm by engaging with members and former members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, the group responsible for the attack. These interviews seek to unravel the enigmatic motivations behind the horrifying act and the intense loyalty of the followers to their guru, Shoko Asahara. What emerges is a nuanced exploration of belief, manipulation, and the extremes to which individuals can be driven by charismatic leaders.

Through Underground, Murakami not only memorialises the victims of the attack and gives voice to their stories but also provides a chilling analysis of the intersection between violence and ideology. His compassionate and unflinching approach offers readers a deeper understanding of a national tragedy that continues to resonate to this day.

For anyone interested in true crime, Japanese culture, or the profound effects of a single act of terror on a society, Underground is an essential read. It is a testament to human resilience in the face of unimaginable horror and a reflection on the darker aspects of faith and fanaticism.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Underground by Haruki Murakami is praised for its depiction of ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances, drawing comparisons to Alfred Hitchcock's works. Critics highlight its impressive witness literature and insight into the Japanese mindset, with the book being described as moving, engrossing, and a scrupulous look into horror. Testimonies in the book resonate deeply, and its straightforward narrative enhances the bizarreness of the events described.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780099461098

Publisher: Vintage Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 04 September 2003

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Vintage

Audience: Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 19.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 223g

Pages: 320

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About the Author

In 1978, Haruki Murakami was 29 and running a jazz bar in downtown Tokyo. One April day, the impulse to write a novel came to him suddenly while watching a baseball game. That first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, won a new writers' award and was published the following year. More followed, including A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, but it was Norwegian Wood, published in 1987, which turned Murakami from a writer into a phenomenon. His books became bestsellers, were translated into many languages, including English, and the door was thrown wide open to Murakami's unique and addictive fictional universe. Murakami writes with admirable discipline, producing ten pages a day, after which he runs ten kilometres (he began long-distance running in 1982 and has participated in numerous marathons and races), works on translations, and then reads, listens to records and cooks. His passions colour his non-fiction output, from What I Talk About When I Talk About Running to Absolutely On Music, and they also seep into his novels and short stories, providing quotidian moments in his otherwise freewheeling flights of imaginative inquiry. In works such as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 1Q84 and Men Without Women, his distinctive blend of the mysterious and the everyday, of melancholy and humour, continues to enchant readers, ensuring Murakami's place as one of the world's most acclaimed and well-loved writers.

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