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modernzorker's review
4.0
I stumbled across "Monkey Brain Sushi" (what a title, right?) on the shelves of the local Half Price Books back in the mid-90s. "New tastes in Japanese fiction" the cover declared. Well hey, I enjoy manga and anime, so why not? Plus it was five bucks--can't go wrong there.
I'll echo the comments of several other reviewers here in that I was disappointed to discover that many of what I thought were stand-alone short stories were, in fact, just chapters or excerpts from longer novels. That's not to say those stories are bad, just that at the end you're often left with a feeling of something missing. It's like reading those excerpts of literature in your textbook: you can get a sense of the story and the style, but the overall effect is diminished slightly.
That said, it's still a fun collection despite the fact a few years have passed since its publication in 1991.
Many people mention Murakami's "TV People" and Kobayashi's "Mazelife" as the standouts of the collection, and they're right. But while these two may be the strongest entries, my own personal favorite has always been Gen'ichiro Takahashi's "Christopher Columbus Discovers America" for reasons I've never quite been able to put my finger on. Its opening is certainly one of the most humorous, with a group of young schoolchildren informing their exasperated teacher that they'd all like to be Christopher Columbus when they grow up, and if that won't work, then being physically handicapped ("having a handicap in your phys" as one of them states in all seriousness) would be just fine too.
While it was fresh in the early 90s, this isn't a book I'd choose to give someone aching to break into Japanese literature today. Instead it's one I'd give them after they've already developed an interest in the subject and wanted to see what the scene looked like in the late 80s. A good collection, not great, but not for the uninitiated at this point.
I'll echo the comments of several other reviewers here in that I was disappointed to discover that many of what I thought were stand-alone short stories were, in fact, just chapters or excerpts from longer novels. That's not to say those stories are bad, just that at the end you're often left with a feeling of something missing. It's like reading those excerpts of literature in your textbook: you can get a sense of the story and the style, but the overall effect is diminished slightly.
That said, it's still a fun collection despite the fact a few years have passed since its publication in 1991.
Many people mention Murakami's "TV People" and Kobayashi's "Mazelife" as the standouts of the collection, and they're right. But while these two may be the strongest entries, my own personal favorite has always been Gen'ichiro Takahashi's "Christopher Columbus Discovers America" for reasons I've never quite been able to put my finger on. Its opening is certainly one of the most humorous, with a group of young schoolchildren informing their exasperated teacher that they'd all like to be Christopher Columbus when they grow up, and if that won't work, then being physically handicapped ("having a handicap in your phys" as one of them states in all seriousness) would be just fine too.
While it was fresh in the early 90s, this isn't a book I'd choose to give someone aching to break into Japanese literature today. Instead it's one I'd give them after they've already developed an interest in the subject and wanted to see what the scene looked like in the late 80s. A good collection, not great, but not for the uninitiated at this point.
dajna's review against another edition
2.0
Ma, non era quello che mi aspettavo. Due o tre bei racconti, il manga ha un bel finale, ma non mi ha coinvolto come altri romanzi o racconti. Forse devo rimanere sulla letteratura giapponese standard.
lschlego's review against another edition
4.0
As usual, I loved some of these stories, and hated others. It is important to point out, that some of these are not short stories, but rather excerpts from novellas. I particularly enjoyed TV People, Mazelife, Peony Snowflakes of Love, The Yamada Diary.
alexanderpaez's review against another edition
3.0
Interesante compendio de relatos y extractos de novelas publicados a finales de los 80. Entre los autores se ven algunos que hoy en día son muy populares (o lo han sido) como Haruki Murakami o Amy Yamada. Es interesante descubrir nuevos (para mí) autores. En conjunto me ha parecido una antología irregular y con pocos relatos destacables, pero por aquel entonces esta iniciativa me hubiera parecido excelente. Pero colocar fragmentos de novelas largas que no se han llegado a publicar en inglés me parece un error enorme, pues el lector se queda colgado ante la narración. Por eso he evitado leer estos relatos.
Relatos:
-TV People, de Haruki Murakami 4/5
-Sproing!, de Eri Makino 2/5
-Christopher Columbus Discovers America, de Gen'ichiro Takahashi 4/5
-Mazelife, de Kyoji Kobayashi 3/5 Aunque este es el fragmento de una novela.
-Momotaro in a Capsule, de Masahiko Shimada 2/5
-Japan's Junglest Day, de Michio Hisauchi 2,5/5 (Este es un manga)
-Kneel Down and Lick My Feet, de Amy Yamada (No leído debido a ser sólo el 1er capítulo de una novela)
-Peony Snowflakes of Love, Osamu Hashimoto 3/5
-Japanese Entrance Exams for Earnest Young Men, de Yoshinori Shimizu 4/5
-Girl, de Mariko Ohara 3/5 (¡Uno de ciencia ficción!)
-The Yamada Diary, de Masako Takemo 3/5
Relatos:
-TV People, de Haruki Murakami 4/5
-Sproing!, de Eri Makino 2/5
-Christopher Columbus Discovers America, de Gen'ichiro Takahashi 4/5
-Mazelife, de Kyoji Kobayashi 3/5 Aunque este es el fragmento de una novela.
-Momotaro in a Capsule, de Masahiko Shimada 2/5
-Japan's Junglest Day, de Michio Hisauchi 2,5/5 (Este es un manga)
-Kneel Down and Lick My Feet, de Amy Yamada (No leído debido a ser sólo el 1er capítulo de una novela)
-Peony Snowflakes of Love, Osamu Hashimoto 3/5
-Japanese Entrance Exams for Earnest Young Men, de Yoshinori Shimizu 4/5
-Girl, de Mariko Ohara 3/5 (¡Uno de ciencia ficción!)
-The Yamada Diary, de Masako Takemo 3/5
strong_extraordinary_dreams's review
4.0
Read this years - decades - ago. It really expanded my then young mind as to what short stories could be.
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