Product Description

'How does Murakami manage to make poetry while writing of contemporary life and emotions? I am weak-kneed with admiration' Independent on Sunday

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13520 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Review
"Murakami's storytelling inspires intimacy. It's the particular kind of intimacy that can evolve between a reader and a book, unspoken and unexpected, familiar, satisfying, strange" JANE MENDELSOHN, Village Voice "Western critics searching for parallels have variously likened him to Raymond Carver, Raymond Chandler, Arthur C. Clarke, Don DeLillo, Philip K. Dick, Bret Easton Ellis and Thomas Pynchon - a roster so ill assorted as to suggest that Murakami may in fact be an original" JAMIE JAMES, New York Times

The menacing little seismographic printout on the translucent dustjacket of this stylishly produced book says it all. This short collection of six stories - few of them taking more than 15 minutes to read - take their origin from the devastating earthquake that hit Kobe in Japan not long ago. None of the stories in this collection are directly connected with the disaster, though all of them are touched by it in one way or another. Each is set in its own odd little world. The opening story deals with an unhappily divorced man who goes on an enforced holiday only to develop sexual problems due to a mysterious wooden cube in his airplane luggage. Then there follows a short tale about a disaffected family man who likes to build bonfires on the beach at midnight. Best of all is the story of Mr Katagiri, who comes home one evening to find a giant frog in his apartment, intent upon having the poor chap help him save all Tokyo from disaster by burrowing down into the earth and confronting an immense and angry worm. Murakami is a world-renowned writer, a master of alienated characters in a disturbing world. (Kirkus UK)

Synopsis
The economy was booming. People had more money than they knew what to do with. And then, the earthquake struck. Komura's wife follows the TV reports from morning to night, without eating or sleeping. The same images appear again and again: flames, smoke, buildings turned to rubble, their inhabitants dead, cracks in the streets, derailments, crashes, collapsed expressways, crushed subways, fires everywhere. Pure hell. Suddenly, a city seems a fragile thing. And life too. Tomorrow anything could happen. For the characters in Murakami's latest short story collection, the Kobe earthquake is an echo from a past they buried long ago. Satsuki has spent 30 years hating one man: a lover who destroyed her chances of having children, and who now lives in Kobe. Did her desire for revenge cause the earthquake? Junpei's estranged parents also live in Kobe. Should he contact them? Miyake left his family in Kobe to make midnight bonfires on a beach hundreds of miles away. Four-year-old Sala has nightmares that the Eathquake man is trying to stuff her inside a little box.

Katagiri returns home to find a giant frog in his apartment on a mission to save Tokyo from a massive worm burrowing under the Tokyo Security Trust Bank. "When he gets angry, he causes earthquakes" says Frog. "And right now he is very, very angry."

About the Author
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo.

Customer Reviews

Good selection of short stories from Murakami
Maybe it is the mark of an author at the top of his game when he can write a set of short stories where little or nothing actually happens in most, but can give the reader a feeling that they know characters in such a short space of time. Most of the characters here are Murakami's staple - introspective and introverted - and some stories still have his trademark surrealism (especially Super-Frog saves Tokyo).

Not the great "Kafka on the Shore" Murakami, or the equally brilliant "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" Murakami, but far better than the "Elephant Vanishes" Murakami.

Definitely a good read, albeit a little short at 130 pages.

The best volume of Murakami short stories available in English
This is the best Murakami short story collection available in English, as this is actually a direct translation of an existing volume. The other collections - The Elephant Vanishes and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman - are hotch-potch compilations of stories originally published in lots of different collections. Additionally, the stories here are linked by the 1995 Kobe earthquake of the title, which makes this more than just a collection of short stories.

Stunning ... a masterpiece MURAKAMI IS GENIUS!!
I have read six of Murakami's novels and loved every singe one of them but this one is nice and short and has some memorable characters such as yoshiya (Frog man) and the oversized frog and worm who help save Tokyo from a disastrous earthquake. His mix of surreal being so much like the real is enticing and enjoyable to read. I like the idea that so many different characters and situations have been put into this story. I would also recommend "The Elephant Vanishes" as being my next favourite. For those of you with a slightly more adult taste .. ahem ahem ... Read "South of the border west of the sun" its great, but quite erotic in places!!! lol .... You will love his writing style....

Mel
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