Product Description

In 1969 we were seventeen. We listened to the Beatles, the Stones, the Doors, the Velvet Underground, the Grateful Dead, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Bob Dylan. We read Rimbaud, played guitars, smoked pot, fell in love, rebelled against the establishment, protested the war in Vietnam, barricaded our high school, and produced the first rock festival in our home town - a small city in a remote southwestern corner of Japan. "69" is a roman de clef about coming of age during a time that left its mark on baby boomers around the world - a time when we really believed we could change the world before it changed us. By turns hilarious, cynical, frivolous, and poignant, the book is infused from start to finish with Ryu Murakami's relentless energy and optimism; and it simply refuses to get tedious, preach, or "literary" for a single moment.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #233039 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-07
• Original language: Japanese
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

Light and entertaining read
This is a very funny novel, the protagonist is a wise guy who recounts his experiences at school. I enjoyed the wackyness, the sharp style, realism and inter-relationship of the characters.

Above all this is a novel simply to be enjoyed - I read it over the Bank Holiday Weekend and it went by very quickly. I hope Ryu comes out with something like this in the future, as it seems to have been a one-off.

'60s coming of age Japan - rock the school, get the girl
Unlike Murakami's chilling psychological thrillers, this is a lighthearted semi-autobiographical account of a 17-year-old Murakami growing up in 1969 Sasebo, Japan. It's a coming of age story about getting one up over the Greasers and the Kendo team, rocking the school, and, of course, getting the girl.

First published in 1987, the '60s culture references come think and fast, and can be confusing to readers who weren't there at the time. It's like a Japanese version of Greece.

"If everyone could feel as I felt at that moment, dressed in my preppy sweater and McGreagor coat and about to set out on a little journey with my Bambi-eyed girlfriend on Christmas Eve, all the conflicts in the world would vanish. Mellow smiles would rule the earth."

The 2004 film adaption by Sang-il Lee seems impossible to find. A Japanese coming of age film I fully recommend [warning: it has no plot and is very arty] is: All About Liliy Chiu Chiu All About Lily Chou-Chou [DVD] [2002]

Unsettling
I first read this book on a trip to the northern lights and couldn't decide if I really liked it. Its unsettling weave or story and stance is indeed unique and sets the reader on a rare trip - to somewhere out of their control. Just wander with the story but don't fight it.