Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: Stories

Never got the book

Even though Murakami's writing borders on the surreal, it is not too science fiction-y that you cannot jump from short story to short story. A great gap filler for a distracted world.

"Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman" demonstrates Haruki Murakami's mastery of the short story genre. It is quite simply one of the most intriguing short story collections that I have read recently. Much to his credit, Murakami has a marvelous ability of transforming the mundane into something that's quite interesting, and often profound, as demonstrated by so many of his short stories published in this volume, which deal with relationships between men and women. Though set primarily in his native Japan, his stories - which are well-translated by his long-time translators Philip Gabriel and Jay Rubin - have an almost universal quality to them, as fascinating examinations of contemporary modern culture from the perspectives of both men and women. All of these stories feature Murakami's usual literary tricks of the trade, ranging from his mordant humor to constant references to contemporary pop culture, and last, but not least, his keen ear for dialogue between the sexes. These stories truly demonstrate why Murakami isn't just one of Japan's greatest living writers, but more importantly, why he ranks amongst the world's finest. It's hard to pick among twenty-four terrific tales for personal favorites. Two of the best, "Firefly" and "Man-Eating Cats", were revised later to become separate chapters in Murakami's novels "Norwegian Wood" and "Sputnik Sweetheart". Another compelling story is his realistic fantasy "The Ice Man", which could have been written by Harlan Ellison. "Dabchick" is an intriguing, almost Kafkaesque, battle of wits between a young woman and a receptionist in the office of a mysterious Japanese tycoon. "Hanalei Bay" is an emotionally riveting tale about a woman's ability to cope with the loss of her only child, a son killed by a shark while surfing in Hawaii. These superb stories are among the reasons why that I - ten years after being introduced to Murakami's work by fellow Stuyvesantian Muriel Cleary - regard him as among my favorite contemporary authors. If you haven't read any of Murakami's work, then do yourself a favor and pick up this fine short story collection; it will be a most delightful introduction to it.

Being that Murakami Haruki's latest novel will be released to his English reading audience next week, I decided to get back into a Murakami mood by reading his most recent short story collection: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. Years ago I read Murakami's first short story collection, The Elephant Vanishes, and some of the stories, such as T.V. People and The Dancing Dwarf left me quite cold, but others such as Slow Boat to China and Sleep revealed to me that Murakami is just as skilled penning short stories as he is penning novels. In fact, early in his career Murakami was more noted for his short story collections than his novels. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman consists of stories that Murakami wrote during the first twenty-five years as a writer and this book contains two of his oldest stories: New York, Mining Disaster and A "Poor Aunt" Story. His first short fiction was the previously mentioned A Slow Boat to China. The most recent stories, the last five in the book, were penned in 2005, so the reader is able to experience the shifts, the changes, and the evolutions of Murakami's stories through the years. Being that the last four years of my life or so have been devoted to reading, researching, and writing on Murakami's literature, I might not be the most objective reader of this collection because of my familiarity with Murakami's writing style and themes. Many reviews mention how "strange" or "bewildering" the stories are, but to those of us who have read Murakami for a number of years, they come off as just pure Murakami and stories of green monsters, vampires, and man eating cats are perfectly normal next to those of romance in college. Another thing that will be of interest to longtime Murakami readers is that included within this volume are the stories which would later evolve in longer works such as Norwegian Wood and Sputnik Sweetheart. It is interesting to see how these stories would later evolve into these much longer works and how Murakami can work an idea that was originally a twenty-five page story into a six hundred page novel. Not all of the stories in this volume are perfect gems, but there are no chunks of glass either. Each brings something different to the fore and they can easily grasp the reader's heart. I believe that "Tony Takitani," Murakami's lone short story from 1990, might be the most heartrending work by the author because of its themes of love and loss. Also, I believe that this volume would be a good introduction to new readers of Murakami, because it gives equal doses of odd and normal. However, what exactly is odd and what exactly is normal?

I loved "The Elephant Vanishes" and thoroughly enjoyed Haruki Murakami's latest collection of short stories. I am also a New Yorker subscriber, and had read several of my favorite pieces in their magazine, but it was nice to have those in one place. It was also great to see the inspiration for some of Murakami's longer works, like "Norwegian Wood". Another recommendation, if you like Murakami's short stories would be to buy "After the Quake," which is just awesome. I hope a few of those get turned into full books, as well.

This collection indicates that Murakami is a master of the short story form. His elliptical style is perfectly suited to these haunting tales: the strong and often wistful narrative voice draws the reader futher into the revealing world Murkami crafts in each story. We often find ourselves in the expressive mental landcsape of memory, a trait that universalizes the stories. The tales also reveal an emotional honesty that lingers after each story ends. Expect many of these tales to be anthologized: they are provocative, thoughtful and beautifully written with an impressive economy of language. Quite an achievement.

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (BWSW) is an amazing collection of short stories. Spanning 25 years of Murakami's career (the oldest story was originally written in 1980, while several were penned in 2005), the stories in BWSW show off Murakami's amazing skill and versatility. Murakami's stories are often described as defying typical genre classifications, and while this is true, it would be a mistake to interpret this as meaning that all Murakami stories are the same. The stories in BWSW will alternately leave you scared, laughing, amazed, and confounded. Although everyone will have their favorite stories, my personal favorites were Firefly (later expanded into Norwegian Wood), Hanalei Bay, Tony Takitani, and The Mirror. I felt the first three best represented Murakami's patented ability to tap into the tightly-linked joy, loss, and loneliness of the human condition, while the fourth was enjoyable as the pure "ghost story" ... while this genre is a staple in Japanese literature, it is a departure from the rest of Murakami's works. If you are new to Murakami, I think that his short story collections (either BWSW or The Elephant Vanishes) are the best place to start. Murakami's works are best "felt" rather than "analyzed" and short stories are the best way to get acquainted with his talent and style. If you like his short stories, try a novel. Which one is a matter of personal taste ... interestingly, while Wind-Up Bird is typically his most popular work in the West, it is his earlier works (notably Norwegian Wood, Hard-Boiled Wonderland, and Dance, Dance, Dance) that remain even more popular in his native Japan to this day. If you are an old Murakami hand, you might be wondering what is next. Unfortunately the future is a little murky. Murakami seems to be in the process of re-inventing himself, and the first product of the "new" Murakami is After Dark (due to be released in English in 2007), which received mixed reviews in Japan. Personally, I look forward to whatever work follows After Dark, to see which Murakami we can expect in the future. As for me, I think I'll go back and re-read his earlier works to immerse myself once again in the always amazing, always indescribable, and always unforgettable universe that is Murakami World.