First Person Singular: Stories

I loved the stories.

This is the first book by Murakami that I’ve read and I’ve just finished it in one stunned sitting.The eight short stories contained in this volume display a breadth of imagination that I haven’t encountered for years. They are by turns funny, moving and sometimes even scary, with what I suppose you could call “twists”, or at least endings you won’t expect. I will now reread each story, taking my time to truly absorb them. Indeed, they invite that kind of scrutiny.Each of the stories is, obviously, Japan-centric, but this aspect doesn’t really affect the way the stories are told; they could be set anywhere. (This probably only matters in the story “The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection” which is specifically about Japanese baseball.) The translation throughout is exemplary.No spoilers, but my favourite story is the one featuring a certain monkey...I also enjoyed “With the Beatles” and “Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova”, the latter being a story that is both crazy and moving.I cannot recommend this short story collection highly enough, and now I want to read everything else Murakami has written, whilst chiding myself for not discovering him sooner.

There is an artistry in Murakami’s writing that is hard to define. He provokes previously unthought questions from the most mundane of daily tasks.This set of short stories are the perfect introduction to the world of Murakami. I have read every word published in English by Murakami, some books twice and a few multiple times. Whilst the format of short stories is one I would normally not read, Murakami excels in this style of storytelling. In all his novels, the author is able to capture emotions of love, loss, impending age and youthful angst, and these eight stories are no different. Sometimes the subtlety of his writing makes the reader miss the depth of the meaning and this is where the short story format excels, you can simply dip back and re-read a whole story.Each story is different, and everyone will have their favourite. For me. With the Beatles and Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey are the ones that stand out. If you are new to Murakami and are put off by the thought of a story which includes a talking animal, you should put any prejudice to one side. Much of his writing is otherworldly and it is a trademark of his writing. Just like Tolkien, whose books use elves and dwarves, Murakami’s animals are far more than childlike fantasy.I normally read on a Kindle, but if you are considering this book, the hardback edition is the way to go. Although I have read his 1Q84 many times, at 1300 words it is not a quick read. First person Singular will sit on my shelf and get picked up time and time again when I just want to read a story and take a twenty minute journey in to Murakami’s world. That said, if you are new to the author, make the time and pick up any one of his novels. Kafka on the Shore, 1Q84 or Norwegian Wood are a great staring point.

It is one of the great pleasures of my life to read a new Haruki Murakami book. I wish i could spin them out, savour them, make them last, but i can’t. i just need to keep reading and enjoying.This wonderful collection of 8 short stories was no exception. I loved each of the stories, most of which touch on the life of the mind, and our relationship with what is objectively real. Many have a melancholic feel, with memories and connections to the past. A talking monkey with a very unusual compulsion , an invented album by Charlie Parker ( with a strange twist) , a girl who loved the Beatles caught in a moment, the pleasures of wearing a suit when you don't have to (with a couple of twists), and an invite to a non existent event from an old flame, all feature in some way in these captivating tales.I loved the monkey story, though I think my favourite is the baseball one, which to play the game ‘is it memoir or fiction- the reader decides’ invited in the publicity, is, I suspect, the only one which is actually Murakami’s lived experience, rather than an invention. If there are others, he has certainly experienced some unusual happenings along the way. No matter, these are great stories any which way - and it is an extra enjoyment to decide if any are actually biographical - objectively real.

CONFESSIONS OF A SHINAGAWA MONKEY“Or maybe what I had seen was a long, strange, realistic dream.”When this story — unforgettable beyond any risk of the previous story’s memory losses or of similar such lapses that, within this story itself, beset the women with whom its eponymous monkey falls in love — becomes as famous as this story is likely to do, most of its reading enthusiasts may well become hung up on the Bruckner references, his seventh symphony in particular being a nod toward the elderly monkey’s maximum limit of loving seven human women about whom it tells the narrator in the hot springs hotel. Or what about Bruckner’s Symphonies numbered 0 and 00 as symbols of loss of personal items as well as the women’s memory loss of their own names?…. Well, if these readers do concentrate on Bruckner, they must also remember that Richard Strauss is explicitly mentioned at least once in the text. As is a ‘coffee lounge’ where the narrator eventually meets perforce a woman who may have brought the total to eight, my own favourite Bruckner symphony.A truly wonderful story to have a long hot soak in, one that actually somehow makes you disarmingly believe, with exquisite naivety, in the talking monkey already hiding within it. And as a result of its publication, it is possible that several more women, once they have read it, will understand why they lost, say, their driving licence on the same day that they forgot their own name. Haydn is likely to have enough numbered symphonies to cope, I trust.The detailed review of this book under my name is too long or impractical to post here, and the above is one of its observations.

This book deserves every single one of the five stars I have given it, it is Murakami returning to the genre that I think he excels in, the short story. As much as I love Murakami’s books I did struggle with Killing Commendatore, it seemed to take a long while to get going and I found it difficult to engage with, this is why I have been looking forward to this new collection for a long while.These stories are not as strange as some of his previous ones but that does not detract from the enjoyment. They are all told from the first person perspective and apart from one it is up to the reader to decide who the others are narrated by, but in my opinion this adds to the fun that is already inherent in any Murakami story.