Haruki Murakami (´åÉÏ´ºÊ÷) is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the World Fantasy Award, the Tanizaki Prize, Yomiuri Prize for Literature, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the Noma Literary Prize, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Kiriyama Prize for Fiction, the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards for Best Fiction, the Jerusalem Prize, and the Princess of Asturias Awards. Growing up in Ashiya, near Kobe before moving to Tokyo to attend Waseda University, he published his first novel Hear the Wind Sing (1979) after working as the owner of a small jazz bar for seven years. His notable works include the novels Norwegian Wood (1987), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994¨C95), Kafka on the Shore (2002) and 1Q84 (2009¨C10); the last was ranked as the best work of Japan's Heisei era (1989¨C2019) by the national newspaper Asahi Shimbun's survey of literary experts. His work spans genres including science fiction, fantasy, and crime fiction, and has become known for his use of magical realist elements. His official website cites Raymond Chandler, Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan as key inspirations to his work, while Murakami himself has named Kazuo Ishiguro, Cormac McCarthy and Dag Solstad as his favourite currently active writers. Murakami has also published five short story collections, including First Person Singular (2020), and non-fiction works including Underground (1997), an oral history of the Tokyo subway sarin attack, and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (2007), a memoir about his experience as a long distance runner. His fiction has polarized literary critics and the reading public. He has sometimes been criticised by Japan's literary establishment as un-Japanese, leading to Murakami's recalling that he was a "black sheep in the Japanese literary world". Meanwhile, Murakami has been described by Gary Fisketjon, the editor of Murakami's collection The Elephant Vanishes (1993), as a "truly extraordinary writer", while Steven Poole of The Guardian praised Murakami as "among the world's greatest living novelists" for his oeuvre.
The stories contained in the book were written between 1981 and 2005 and this collection was first published in English in 2006.
Contents: Nausea 1979; A Folklore for My Generation: A Prehistory of Late-Stage Capitalism; Hunting Knife; The Mirror; A 'Poor Aunt' Story; Hanalei Bay; and Birthday Girl.
"There are all kinds of nervous disorders. Even if they have the same cause, there are a million different symptoms. It¡¯s like an earthquake¡ªthe underlying energy is the same, but, depending on where it happens, the results are different. In one case, an island sinks; in another, a brand-new island is formed."
There¡¯s a sharp knife stabbed into the soft part of my head, where the memories are. It¡¯s stuck deep down inside. It doesn¡¯t hurt or weigh me down¡ªit¡¯s just stuck there. And I¡¯m standing off to one side, looking at this like it¡¯s happening to someone else. I want someone to pull the knife out, but no one knows that it¡¯s stuck inside my head. I think about yanking it out myself, but I can¡¯t reach my hands inside my head. It¡¯s the strangest thing. I can stab myself, but I can¡¯t reach the knife to pull it out. And then everything starts to disappear. I start to fade away, too. And only the knife is left. Only the knife is always there¡ªto the very end. Like the bone of some prehistoric animal on the beach. That¡¯s the kind of dream I have,¡± he said.
¡°There¡¯s a sharp knife stabbed into the soft part of my head, where the memories are. It¡¯s stuck deep down inside. It doesn¡¯t hurt or weigh me down¡ªit¡¯s just stuck there. And I¡¯m standing off to one side, looking at this like it¡¯s happening to someone else. I want someone to pull the knife out, but no one knows that it¡¯s stuck inside my head. I think about yanking it out myself, but I can¡¯t reach my hands inside my head. It¡¯s the strangest thing. I can stab myself, but I can¡¯t reach the knife to pull it out. And then everything starts to disappear. I start to fade away, too. And only the knife is left. Only the knife is always there¡ªto the very end. Like the bone of some prehistoric animal on the beach. That¡¯s the kind of dream I have,¡±
¡°There¡¯s a sharp knife stabbed into the soft part of my head, where the memories are. It¡¯s stuck deep down inside. It doesn¡¯t hurt or weigh me down¡ªit¡¯s just stuck there. And I¡¯m standing off to one side, looking at this like it¡¯s happening to someone else. I want someone to pull the knife out, but no one knows that it¡¯s stuck inside my head. I think about yanking it out myself, but I can¡¯t reach my hands inside my head. It¡¯s the strangest thing. I can stab myself, but I can¡¯t reach the knife to pull it out. And then everything starts to disappear. I start to fade away, too. And only the knife is left. Only the knife is always there¡ªto the very end. Like the bone of some prehistoric animal on the beach. That¡¯s the kind of dream I have,¡±
Opening lines: Two rafts were anchored offshore like twin islands. They were the perfect distance to swim to from the beach¡ªexactly fifty strokes out to one of them, then thirty strokes from one to the other.
Just finished this one while having some calm and cozy afternoon tea time alone. Surprisingly, the story fitted the quiet vibes perfectly.
As with other stories by Murakami, I had no idea where this was going. And even after reading it, I still have so many questions and thoughts (in a good way). Did the son lie about his reason for buying the knife? Was he too afraid to unleash his true self? Why did the protagonist care so much about the son and the mother next door? Why did he think of the fat lady when testing the knife? What makes him special that the strangers all shared about themselves to him?
Though to be honest, I could relate so much to the protagonist. I'm always curious about other guests in the hotel, restaurant, etc. and imagined their stories. And the part about leaving from a conversation at the "right" timing. I struggle with this haha.
What are your thoughts? ?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.