Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman - stories by Haruki Murakami

grady · #1 09-05-2006, 07:00 PM

This just came out last week stateside. It's a wide range of short stories from the past two decades or so culled from a variety of published sources ranging from the New Yorker, McSweeney's, Granta, Harper's, The Harvard Review, etc etc.

I've only made it about four stories into the collection thus far. My initial impulse which I've been resisting to quite well is to plow through the collection of stories in one fell swoop one evening. At this point I'm trying to savor each story, letting them resonate for a bit before having them all blur together.

So far they're pretty amusing and there is a pervasive sadness running concurrent through the four stories I've read. I'll probably end up finishing it by the end of the week despite plan to hold onto the book longer.

winjer · #2 09-09-2006, 11:42 AM

I nearly doubled over when I saw this in the window of the bookstore.

Unfortunatley consumed it entirely the next two days.

Murakami's style, I've decided, is quite a bit better suited to the short story form... its much easier for him to pull off his open-endedness and metaphysical mysteriousness when it's only a few pages long. Its a little harder to swallow when his 500 page novels remain seemingly devoid of resolution.

Anyway... amazing collection, despite a lot of them already appearing in the New Yorker and such...

myshkin · #3 09-09-2006, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by winjer

I nearly doubled over when I saw this in the window of the bookstore.

Unfortunatley consumed it entirely the next two days.

Murakami's style, I've decided, is quite a bit better suited to the short story form... its much easier for him to pull off his open-endedness and metaphysical mysteriousness when it's only a few pages long. Its a little harder to swallow when his 500 page novels remain seemingly devoid of resolution.

Anyway... amazing collection, despite a lot of them already appearing in the New Yorker and such...

Dunno why or perhaps not bothering to choose to analyse why, but I can't really stomach reading literature except in book form, ie no enthusiasm for reading stories on a computer or, for less easily comprehensible reasons, in a magazine. Which is perhaps a good thing cos I don't buy any magazines. Anyway think I'll check out the collection mentioned. Have ...what is it...........Wind Up Bird Chronicle which I haven't given a look yet. Any opinions on it?

winjer · #4 09-10-2006, 12:11 AM

I find Bird Chronicle, along with Kafka on the Shore, to be one of Murakamis least accessible and ultimatley least succesful novels... its really just too damn big for its own good.

I highly reccomend starting your Murakami reading with either 'Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World,' 'Wild Sheep Chase,' or 'Norweigen Wood,' though its not very indicative of his normal style.

ceramic'cow · #5 09-10-2006, 11:57 PM

Oh no! I adore The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. It was the first Murakami novel that i read (I started with After the Quake, one of his collections of short stories) so that might have something to do with it, but i wouldn't have said that it had no resolution. I can understand that about Kafka on the Shore, although i still enjoyed that book.

I found Wild Sheep Chase to be very heavy going, and didn't really enjoy it at all, although having read Dance Dance Dance recently I'm almost inclined to go back and take another look at it.

Norwegian Wood is a gorgeous story, rather melancholy but sweet with it, and Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the Word is very good as well, but I think The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is my favourite.

grady · #6 09-11-2006, 01:03 PM

I'm on the same page(no pun intended) as winjer regarding The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. That was the last book by Murakami that I read and it felt very long and meandering, not that it's a bad book by any means, and I didn't enjoy it.

I started reading Murakami with A Wild Sheep Chase and then read all of his subsequent books in the order they were published. I'm glad I read his work in the order of publication. You can really see the progression of the writer and the way ideas developed and matured over the years.

Perhaps one my favorite of his novels, perhaps my favorite, is Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I think it's the perfect summation of his style and weird metaphysical writing that is always bordering on sci-fi.

Kafka on the Shore always struck me as another version of Hard Boiled Wonderland... just stretched out and rewritten, but adhering to a similar structure.

For someone new to Murakami I would recommend starting with a collection of short stories like The Elephant Vanishes or the novel Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World followed very closely by A Wild Sheep Chase. Hard Boiled has become my go to gift for people new to Murakami's writing. At this point I've probably given about 15 copies out to people over the past two and half years since I first read it in the Fall of 2004. The most recent copy I sent to B.miller for a birthday present as he and share the same B-day.

Kennrr · #7 09-11-2006, 09:51 PM

I picked the book up today. i'm excited and can't wait to get off work to start reading it. I really enjoy Kafka on the Shore, it was easier to get into while something like The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is by far my favorite of his, and rank highly in my all time favorite. personally, i classify it as sci fi.

Grady - ever seen Haibane Renmei? its my favorite anime serie and it borrows a lot from Hard Boiled Wonderland and.....

grady · #8 09-15-2006, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kennrr

I picked the book up today. i'm excited and can't wait to get off work to start reading it. I really enjoy Kafka on the Shore, it was easier to get into while something like The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is by far my favorite of his, and rank highly in my all time favorite. personally, i classify it as sci fi.

Grady - ever seen Haibane Renmei? its my favorite anime serie and it borrows a lot from Hard Boiled Wonderland and.....

I've never seen that and now I'm very curious. What kind of elements does it borrow from Hard Boiled?

I always debate labeling Hard Boiled as sci-fi and like to think that it straddles the line of sci-fi touching that side of the line and then returning back.

winjer · #9 09-17-2006, 10:20 PM

I just found out theres a movie based on the "Tony Takitani" story included in Blind Willow.... Its got some pretty solid reviews/reception... anyone had a chance to see it?

grady · #10 09-18-2006, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by winjer

I just found out theres a movie based on the "Tony Takitani" story included in Blind Willow.... Its got some pretty solid reviews/reception... anyone had a chance to see it?

I remember the review of the film in the times and was hoping for a wider release but then it seemed to drop out of sight before finally appearing on DVD.

Seems to have a pretty high rating over at the rotten tomato site.