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After work this evening I decided to go to the library & browse. I left w/ a pile of books that I am very excited about but prior to leaving I spent a couple of hours reading this collection of Murakami stories & just finished it after returning home. Of the 3 story collections that I have read by thus author, this is my least favorite however it is definitely worth checking out. It is unusual for the authorial self-reflective passages, (CON.)

Finshed reading on 02 May 2023.

Picked up this book of short stories by Haruki Murakami, who is one of my favorite authors, from my fabulous local library.

After reading a few months ago The Strange Library, I bought Kafka on the Shore
but decided to try some short stories first. I've seen his work characterized as surrealism and magical realism and some of the stories are in that realm (and reminded me of a great Romanian writer that I love, Mircea Eliade) but others are different; all have in common a great sensibility and beautiful writing. Add to this his love of jazz and I'm sold. 😃
A pick!

I liked most of the short stories in this book but I really disliked the last one. Not my favorite Murakami.

^^A privileged man in an expensive suit feeling REMORSE? Seems very unMurakamian. Thankfully, feeling doesn‘t last long, easily washed away w/ vodka gimlet until some nasty woman confirms… Narrators with such ego, such centered perception, but still asking the big questions: am I who I say I am, how did I get to THIS first person singular? “If I‘d chosen a different direction, most likely I wouldn‘t be here. But still—who IS that in the mirror?”

A somewhat more mellow Murakami, still same obsessions (Beatles, jazz, baseball, symphonies). Alienation & distancing. Women=odd, unknowable, sexual creatures, judging & judgeable, who should only ever be young & desirable. Can memory be trusted? Can monkeys steal women‘s names? Can appointments be made & kept? Vodka gimlets & strangers more memorable than loved ones. Great mysteries, less mysterious when told for the umpteenth time. Trans 2020

I feel terribly guilty for saying this, as I‘m a huge Murakami fan & have read them all...I was not a fan of this one.
I think I only truly liked “Charlie Parker Play‘s Bossa Nova”.
His short stories are hit or miss for me, but I LOVE his novels.

I am always in awe of Haruki Murakami's writing. This is a short story collection. Loved all the short stories.
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Can‘t think of a better Sunday

Not bad, but kind of … meh, I suppose. Strange, dislocating mysteries, noodles, bells, jazz — the usual Murakami props all present and accounted for. No holes in the ground, though, I guess that was missing. I could say the stories are very writerly — tightly focused, perfect detail, compact. Getting really sick of how he writes about women, though: he needs to wise up and knock it off. Doesn‘t he read the newspapers?

My library hold finally came in! I‘m so excited to dive in.