First Person Singular

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Average customer rating 4.5 (2 comments)

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Haruki Murakami is not only a great writer but a writer with a vivid imagination. I enjoyed these stories narrated simply. I almost felt like the narrator was Murakami himself.

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First know that I haven’t really enjoyed a Murakami since Kafka on the Shore, and Killing Commandatore disappointed me thoroughly. So when I say I have mixed feelings about this book, note that it’s a compliment of sorts, in that I found that the book didn’t suck. Not a ringing endorsement, but again, a better reaction than I’ve had for a while. Murakami, as always, proves an easy read: even an opening that introduces a character as ugly is soon retextualized, apologized for and explored further, through narrators that, typical to his style, are quiet but are only introspective in the events of their stories, their searches for meaning (if you can call them that) usually befuddled by the sheer randomness of the world. There are some almost standard Murakami bingo items (a talking animal, an overt reference to avoiding metaphor, a teasing of Murakami as his own narrators), but I found these stories a pleasant enough read, maybe with stuff I’ll reflect on later but overall not feeling duped, like I have for his last few novel outings. So I’ll rate it Good, and perhaps hold to an idea that his Steiner work for me, overall, has been his short story work.