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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Excellent. Murikami is becoming one of my favorites even though I’ve yet to read one of his monster hits. Love the way the stories are structured. Interesting meditation on adults and their relationships.
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was my first Haruki Murakami experience. As a short story, I suppose I liked it enough. It was strange. There was a lot of time filled up by mundane tasks followed by inexplicable occurances. The scenes where Kino interacted with other characters were ambiguous but interesting. By the end I didn't know what was real and what was imagined - a reoccurring theme it seems with a lot of Murakami's work - at least from the reviews I've read.
My favorite story of the bunch I think is "Scheherazade" or "Kino," although all stories were enjoyable. Compared to The Elephant Vanishes, I think I would still choose that one. Although it is obvious that these stories are connected through the common theme of men losing women, I think that works against this as a collection. Separately, the stories are strong. Together, you see the threads too closely that make up Murakami's work.
To be frank, the last two or three stories were a bit hard to break through. I enjoyed the first four stories much more, and the fifth was something in between. Maybe I’ll revisit those last stories at some point and see if I feel any different, but for now, my rating will remain at three stars. Really good at first, made me question things and I had to let it sink for a while, as it often happens when I read a Murakami book.
It is a good collection of short stories. But however, I felt all the stories were very similar to each other
I wanted to like this more. There's no doubt Murakami's writing is splendid. He weaves together humor and seriousness seamlessly. That said, the women often are the "villains" in the stories, usually without a name and described physically, not always emotionally. Kino was my favorite story of the 7 but I'll say...7 stories written from the perspective of men gets a little...boring. So if you want to read 7 short stories of how men are utterly useless without the guidance of women, then this is your book. I get it, I really do, but eh.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Character