Product Description

A young man accompanies his cousin to the hospital to check an unusual hearing complaint and recalls a story of a woman put to sleep by tiny flies crawling inside her ear; a mirror appears out of nowhere and a nightwatchman is unnerved as his reflection tries to take control of him; a couple's relationship is unbalanced after dining exclusively on exquisite crab while on holiday; a man follows instructions on the back of a postcard to apply for a job, but an unknown password stands between him and his mysterious employer. In each one of these stories, Murakami sidesteps the real and sprints for the surreal. Everyday events are transcended, leaving the reader dazzled by this master of his craft. "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman" is Murakami's most eclectic collection of stories to date, spanning five years of his writing. An introduction explains the diversity of the author's choice.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8036 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Waterstone's Books Quarterly
'an engaging, likeable collection'

Sunday Telegraph
'The stories are delivered with a beguiling mix of grace and
succinctness'

Guardian
`each [story] is like an exquisite haiku'

Customer Reviews

Short and sweet
Murakami's signature blend of surrealism, whimsy, and reality, are to the fore in this collection of short stories by the Japanese master of the literary style known as 'Magic Realism' - or 'Fantasy writing for grown-ups', as Terry Pratchett is said to have remarked. The everyday scenarios that Murakami presents have strange and puzzling things occur within them, and this is what gives the writer's novels and other writings their unique charm. I love the way that he will mention a specific band that are playing on a juke box, or the minutiae of a meal in a restaurant; he will then turn this around by introducing a talking cat or a television switching on by itself.

As much as I love Murakami's prose, I struggled a little with his short stories, as I think that the way he develops a story and spins all the disparate elements together is the part of his writing that most appeals to me. With these short stories I found that there was an abruptness and a lack of depth that took something special away from them. Having said that, this collection is still well crafted and a must have for those who enjoy their Murakami.

short stories led long thoughts
Various strange but thought provoking collection of short stories that I really liked and could not stop reading once I started. These short stories appear to be a bit strange collections on the surface but each story provided a deep message made me think through. My favorate one was the kidney shaped stone that moves every day. All stories are beautifully wrtten with very soft touch to heart but this one was the best for me which I had to read twice. Also aroplane and spagetti were very touching. I recommend this book to anyone who likes to think about facts and elements of life deeper.

Twenty-four delightful short stories
This collection of short stories features quite a range of memorable characters and situations. Blind willows have a lot of pollen and tiny flies covered with it crawl inside the ear of a woman and put her asleep. A waitress about to spend her twentieth birthday in a surprising manner. A man who has the astonishing habit of going to the zoo whenever there is a typhoon. The story of a mirror capable of reflecting another self. The strange story of a disabled son and her mother holidaying on an island.
In many of these stories, narrative tension is heightened by a refusal to explain strange events; Murakami's ghosts and mysteries remain what they are. In "Nausea 1979" for example, the reader will never know whether a serial adulterer has been cursed, or whether his nausea has something to do with his predilection for deceptive seduction. Murakami never gives answers to the reader's questions, and the result is memorable if puzzling at times.
The stories in this collection have all of Murakami's characteristic strangeness, but they combine the bizarre with a tight structure. They show the author at his best; not as a cult literary figure but as a really first-rate writer of short fiction. Highly recommended.