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jessica_luvs's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Addiction, Rape, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicidal thoughts
belladonnashrike's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
2.75
murakami’s (and his translators!) a really great writer, but some of these stories left something to be desired. perhaps I wasn’t the target audience but even though I thoroughly enjoy his writing (aside from the blatant misogyny), most of the stories themselves were just.. boring. I really liked Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey & On a Stone Pillow - those were really great; I wish the other stories were like those two.
Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Minor: Cancer
themysteriouserk's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Another delightful collection of stories from one of my favorite authors, Haruki Murakami. The stories here range from the strange and silly to the stranger and deeply moving, all written in Murakami’s trademark simple, deadpan style and with his usual flourishes of magic and surreality within depictions of ordinary life. As with pretty much any collection of stories, some are better than others, but everything here is at least pretty good, and “With the Beatles,” “On a Stone Pillow,” and “Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova” are all achingly beautiful depictions of the tentative balance between joy and pain.
Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexism, and Suicide
jayisreading's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
1.5
This was an underwhelming collection of short stories from Murakami. Even the usual whimsy that we so often encounter his works was hardly apparent in First Person Singular, maybe with the exception of one short story, which happened to be the only story that really stuck out to me as interesting (”Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey”).
What connects all of these short stories is that they’re all told from the perspective of an adult man, often contemplating time—especially the past. There is a nostalgic quality to this collection as the man in each story muses about elements of his life that would trigger a particular memory, which, in the grand scheme of things, is pretty classic of Murakami.
The lack of depth in these stories made this a quick read. I didn’t feel that I wanted to dwell on any of these stories very much, either because it was just uninteresting to me or it irked me to no end. ”Carnaval” is probably the best example of this irksome state; it was really unnecessary to fixate on “ugly” women... though, I guess I shouldn’t expect very much from Murakami, considering his history of how he writes women.
Overall, I’d say this collection is a pretty poor example of Murakami’s craft in short story writing. I admittedly wasn’t expecting much, since I wasn’t a huge fan of his previous collection, but this was just downright disappointing.
Moderate: Alcohol, Body shaming, and Suicide
Minor: Drug use
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