Murakami by numbers ( )

Earlier in 2021, I read Mr. Murakami’s arresting book, Norwegian Wood, and shortly thereafter I saw that he had published a new book of short stories so I bought it without even reading a blurb about it. The hardcover book has a jacket, but the book itself has a completely different cover parading as a doubly-fictional album cover that gives the third short story in which it is discussed, “Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova,” its name. Doubly-fictional in that the story’s protagonist wrote an album review of the made-up album for a writing class. Quite amusing; it was my favorite story in the collection. It was one of three with a music theme; the other two “With the Beatles” and “Carnaval” were also brilliant.

As has been my previous experience with Mr. Murakami’s writing, I wonder how much of his fiction is really autobiographical, no less so than in a book and story titled “First Person Singular.” The fantastic inner dialogues and the detailed peculiarities of his protagonists are so insightful, revealing, and realistically dimensional that I think they must be facts of Mr. Murakami to make these narrators come alive so palpably – even though time and again I am left with unsolved riddles or unknowable mysteries that leave me unsatisfied. The overall connecting theme of these stories seems to be memories of fleeting feelings and trying and failing to recreate them.
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A collection of short stories, each with their own little tidbit of information and takeaway. It felt along the same vibe as a lunchables. Some of the stories are better than others, but they make a cohesive whole and give off this nostalgic vibe that makes it an overall enjoyable and quick read. ( )

This book reminded me why I like Haruki Murakami, and why I enjoy short stories.

These stories are like his novels, realism mixed with surrealism. There may be three storylines separated by time and distance and topic, but somehow Murakami makes them all fit together. His narrators know the storylines are connected, and always convince me all the events belong together.

I don't care much for baseball, and no longer follow any kind of music, but each story makes clear why such things fascinate the characters.

This is a beautifully made book, small, with comfortable whitespace between lines and at the margins. It is bound a bit too tightly, and likes to snap closed if not well held.

It's hard to pick a favorite of these eight stories, but "Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey" really drew me in. ( )

This is a collection of short stories, all written in the first person. It's pretty standard Murakami fare; an average middle-class guy puzzles over life and love. Most of it is quite pedestrian; the only one story that really stood out for me was Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey, which has the twisted and somewhat disturbing imagination that features in the author's finest work.

This edition also had some pretty poor grammatical and spelling errors, which does great disservice to such a noted author. ( )