Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Murakami, Haruki - Constance Markey (review date 2 January 1994)

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Constance Markey (review date 2 January 1994)

SOURCE: “In the Steps of a Japanese Gumshoe,” in Chicago Tribune Books, January 2, 1994, p. 6.

[In the following review, Markey outlines the central themes of Dance, Dance, Dance.]

Haruki Murakami's Dance, Dance, Dance is a mystery that requires the reader to do some sleuthing. Without providing much background, it picks up abruptly where the author's earlier novel, A Wild Sheep Chase, ends—inviting the reader to speculate on the riddle of Sheep Chase and at the same time puzzle through this book.

The story takes place in today's Japan and involves tangled adventures and grisly crimes, but the lure of the uncanny clearly inspires the author more than conventional whodunit plots. For him, authentic suspense (and wisdom) rests less in the real world than in other worlds—those outside of the everyday and perhaps buried within the psyche.

In Dance...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Naomi Matsuoka (essay date 1993)
   2. Yoshio Iwamoto (essay date Spring 1993)
   3. David L. Ulin (review date 4 April 1993)
   4. Brooke Horvath (review date Fall 1993)
   5. Jim McCue (review date 19 November 1993)
   6. Constance Markey (review date 2 January 1994)
   7. Elizabeth Ward (review date 16 January 1994)
   8. Alan Wearne (review date February 1994)
   9. Alexander Harrison (review date 18 March 1994)
   10. Celeste Loughman (review date Spring 1994)
   11. Celeste Loughman (essay date Winter 1997)
   12. Elizabeth Ward (review date 9 November 1997)
   13. Lindsley Cameron (review date 1998)
   14. Edward Hower (review date May 1998)
   15. Matthew C. Strecher (essay date May 1998)
   16. Julian Ferraro (review date 1 May 1998)
   17. Michael Wood (review date 11 May 1998)
   18. Tom Hiney (review date 20 June 1998)
   19. Yoshiko Yokochi Samuel (review date Spring 1999)
   20. Phil Baker (review date 23 July 1999)
   21. Lorna Sage (review date 30 September 1999)
   22. Scott Reyburn (review date 15 November 1999)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright