Reviews - Desire | The StoryGraph

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555 reviews for:

Desire

Haruki Murakami

3.78 AVERAGE

maxwell_blackmore's review

3.75

reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: Complicated

bookwends's review

4.75

emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Peak Murakami, tiny book

girica's review

4.75

funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Second Bakery Attack and The Birthday Girl are bloody excellent.

zmagpie's review

3.0

Story 1: 1/5 ⭐
Story 2: 3/5⭐⭐⭐
Story 3: 2/5⭐⭐
Story 4: 3/5⭐⭐⭐
Story 5: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

2.5 stars, barely.

My second Haruki Murakami book and second time being underwhelmed. Maybe this author isn't for me...

ely_28's review against another edition

3.0

This is a Murakami short story collection which mostly revolves around desire and love, though not entirely. As always Murakami books are often the no plot just vibes type and you sort of just have to go with the flow which I also did. Some of the stories were interesting, some left me pretty cold. “The Second Bakery Attack” was kind of weird and I find it really hard to interpret Murakami’s idea. What did he want to say with this? Did the main character feel relieved because his wife didn't leave after the robbery the way his friend did or was the moral of the story just “don't change the way of doing things if the old way is already working”? I’m genuinely not sure.
The story about the “100% Perfect Girl” was a bit stupid because come on, it’s not that deep to just ask a girl out. Really. I promise.
Another one of those more notable stories was “Samsa in Love” which was pretty much “Metamorphosis” but reversed (bug wakes as a man). I didn’t really care about it too much but the idea was nice.
In general…yeah, Murakami’s writing is not 100% my type but I also don’t mind it. If you haven’t read anything by him so far then I wouldnt start with the short story collection though – they are often more bizarre – but I would rather begin with one of his more famous works.