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Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories
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Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories
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Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories
Audiobook12 hours

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories

Written by Haruki Murakami

Narrated by Patrick Lawlor and Ellen Archer

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

From the bestselling author of Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle comes this superb collection of twenty-four stories that generously expresses Murakami's mastery of the form. From the surreal to the mundane, these stories exhibit his ability to transform the full range of human experience in ways that are instructive, surprising, and relentlessly entertaining.

Here are animated crows, a criminal monkey, and an iceman, as well as the dreams that shape us and the things we might wish for. Whether during a chance reunion in Italy, a romantic exile in Greece, a holiday in Hawaii, or in the grip of everyday life, Murakami's characters confront grievous loss, or sexuality, or the glow of a firefly, or the impossible distances between those who ought to be closest of all.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 3, 2013
ISBN9780804166638
Unavailable
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories

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Reviews for Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

Rating: 3.812435347150259 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    i just don't think his short stories are for me unfortunately
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another in a long line of near perfect storytelling from a master of the contemporary and the magical.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A book of Murakami's short stories was something I was looking forward to but I was disappointed. Even though I enjoyed the stories I was always left thinking there should have been more. His writing deserves a full book each time and you could feel there was more to come out at the end of each story in this book.This was a "Murakami light" nothing more nothing less.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Murakami has a real way with injecting the bizarre into the ordinary. I don’t know if it can be called a form of magical realism, but if not it gets very close. I enjoyed these stories thoroughly, even the ones I’m not sure I understood, like the title story. That’s OK, I liked reading it and I’m sure I’m going to like re-reading it to see if I can get a better grip on it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Die Kurzgeschichten von Murakami lassen mich etwas ratlos zurück. Sie sind zweifelsohne interessant und "echt Murakami". Aber was mir an den Romanen gefällt- nämlich, dass sich auf lange Sicht eins zum andern fügt- kommt mir bei den Geschichten etwas zu kurz, weil sie eben kurz sind. Daher gefielen mir die konventionell angelegten Geschichten fast besser, z.B. Der Zufallsreisende oder Hanalei Bay. Trotzdem: Ein interessantes Buch!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wonderful, surreal, dreamlike... Murakami excels at the art of the short story; and I'd definitely recommend this book as a good introduction to his work.

    Contents:
    Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman - One of the more surrealist works here. A young man has to take his younger cousin to a doctor's appointment - which leads him to recall visiting a friend in the hospital, years before. I know that doesn't sound surreal... but you have to read it.

    Birthday Girl - Stuck working on her birthday, a young waitress is called upon to bring the reclusive restaurant owner his dinner. And she's offered a gift, of sorts. What is it? Don't expect to find out.

    New York Mining Disaster - A young man who owns no formal suit has to borrow one five times in one year from his friend who likes to go visit zoos during typhoons - each time for a funeral. Then, a woman at a party tells him she killed someone. Then, a vignette related to the title. OK, I gotta admit this one did not make logical sense, unless you look at reading a story in much the same was as one might experience listening to experimental jazz. Which, I suspect, might very well be how Murakami looks at stories, at times.


    Aeroplane:Or, How He Talked to Himself as If Reciting Poetry - A man is having an affair with an older,married woman. She tends to cry mysteriously. She tells him he talks to himself, although he's not aware of doing so. More surrealism.

    The Mirror - A nightwatchman has a supernatural(?) experience. Can't say too much about it without giving it away, but yes, there's a mirror, and this is hands down one of the best 'ghost stories' I've ever read.

    A Folklore for My Generation: A Prehistory of Late-Stage Capitalism - In college, the narrator always thought that two of his classmates seemed to be the most perfect students - and naturally, they seemed to share a perfect relationship. However, when he meets one of those classmates, years later, he hears the story from a different point of view.

    Hunting Knife - At a vacation resort, a man on vacation with his wife notices a strange couple of guests staying at the same hotel: an elderly mother and her disabled son. Again, a story that's weirder than you might think.

    A Perfect Day for Kangaroos - Sometimes, you should do something immediately, and not wait for the perfect day, because then, it'll be too late. But after all, if it's too late, life goes on.

    Dabchick - This one crosses the line from surreal into absurd. It really sounds like one of those dreams that you have that make total sense while you're dreaming it, but after you wake up you realize it was completely ridiculous. I would totally have this dream, too, since I really need a better job right now.

    Man-Eating Cats - A couple have an affair. When it's discovered, their marriages end, and they take off to Greece. But sitting pointlessly in Greece isn't necessarily as idyllic as it might seem. And it might end up stranger than you expect.

    A 'Poor Aunt' Story - A meta-story about the writing process. Not my favorite in the collection. (But not bad enough to cause a star-docking).

    Nausea 1979 - It might be a horror story about a man suffering a curse. Or it might not. There is, indeed, vomiting, either way.

    The Seventh Man - "In my case, it was a wave," he said. "There's no way for me to tell, of course, what it will be for each of you. But in my case it just happened to take the form of a gigantic wave. It presented itself to me all of a sudden one day, without warning, in the shape of a giant wave. And it was devastating."
    This is the story of that typhoon, and what was lost, and the trauma following. Again, I'm tempted to classify this as a 'ghost story' - and to put it up there with the best of them.

    The Year of Spaghetti - A guy cooks spaghetti for a year and it is lonely and depressing. "Thinking about spaghetti that boils eternally but is never done is a sad, sad thing."

    Tony Takitani - The moral of the story is: Don't try to get your wife to give up shopping, 'cause then she'll end up dead; it will be your fault, and what the hell are you going to do with all her clothes then?
    You'll be sorry!
    OK, maybe that's not actually the moral. It's actually a pretty emotionally harrowing, bizarre, and interesting piece.

    The Rise and Fall of Sharpie Cakes - Very similar to 'Dabchick' in tone and feel. Both stories even have bizarre and supernatural birds. And I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that Murakami doesn't think much of marketing conferences, and is not going to 'sell out.'

    The Ice Man - None of her friends want her to marry the Ice Man. Is he even human? Why does she love him? But she plows on ahead, and it's even her idea to move with him to Antarctic climes. It might not have been a good idea, however.

    Crabs - Aww! I think trying strange restaurants in foreign countries is an excellent idea; and one of the most fun parts of travelling! Don't let this story scare you off! (It's pretty effectively scary!) I've got a feeling Murakami got a bad case of food poisoning at some point...

    Firefly - This story ended up being part of the novel 'Norwegian Wood.' I think it worked better in the context of the novel than as a short story - so go read the book!

    Chance Traveller - Jazz, and coincidences. The torn relationship between a brother and sister is mended by events that seem like more than mere synchronicity.

    Hanalei Bay - A Japanese woman's only son is killed by a shark, and she feels driven to travel and see, and understand the surfing community where he died.

    Where I'm Likely to Find It - An investigator is hired (?) to look into the disappearance of a woman's husband from the stairwell of his own apartment building. But what is he really investigating?

    The Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day - A man, strangely obsessed with a one-time statement from his father that every man will only have three women of tru significance to him in his life, finds himself in a relationship with a women who won't tell him what she does for a living. He won't find out until after she has left his life.

    A Shinagawa Monkey - A woman begins to have bizarre episodes of forgetting her own name. It's only her name - she doesn't seem to be losing track of anything else. Doctors and psychologists won't help her, as the problem is too odd, and not that severe, by their lights. But then she finds a counselor who can track this down to the source...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    strange but interesting collection of short stories. They will linger with you for a while. good writing style.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I am a fan of Murakami. Kafka on the Shore is one of my favorite novels, and I've enjoyed quite a few others as well. This is my first foray into his short story fiction, though... and I'm not sure what to think about it. It reads like Murakami. In the novels, I like this "Murakaminess." I've pondered much over the last few days how to describe Murakami's style, and I can't figure out how to put it into words. Sparse. Pragmatic. Something. The short stories are fine. Some fall flat, others are quite good, but maybe so many stories is a bad thing for me because it really shines a light on how repetitive he can be. Jazz. Adultery. And emotional flatness that seeps into so many of his characters. An "oh well" attitude that just seems, well... empty.Perhaps these things just don't translate well into English? I don't know. I'll give another short story collection a shot, though. And his novels? Still working my way through that cannon.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If you've read Murakami before, you know what you're getting into with these stories. Many of the same motifs - dark bars, bizarre childhoods, nostalgia, swimming, jazz, noir, femme fatale, mysterious appearances/disappearances, ears, pasta. Many of the themes are consistent as well - loneliness, absence, disconnect, multiple realities, deceptive memory. These range in weirdness from day-to-day strangeness to is-this-a-psychological-break events. I find that the way I respond to Murakami depends largely on the mood I'm in when I read it. If you're not feeling it, set it down, come back to it when you're feeling a little more willing to let Haruki take the wheel.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This anthology was hit and miss for me. Normally I become immersed very quickly in Murakami's stories, but I found the first seven stories hard to appreciate. They felt sketchy and incomplete. From Hunting Knife onwards, though, the writing was more like the Murakami I love from his novels. A couple of the stories I had already read in The New Yorker, but re-reading them was good. I also enjoyed reading Man Eating Cats and Firefly, recognising in them the novels they became. My favourites in the collection were The Seventh Man, The Ice Man and The Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day. Each is a story that deals with loneliness, relationships and look as, which are classic Murakami themes. He explores them so well. It took me 10 days to work my way through the first third of the anthology, but only a day to finish the rest of the book. Perhaps it is a book for dipping into rather than reading cover to cover.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Each of these stories tears out my heart. They are exhausting but so rewarding to read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There's something abut short stories by Haruki Murakami that make them so easy for me to read. I think it's the combination of nostalgia for the past, wistfulness in the presence, and the light touch of the mysterious. This collection consisted of 24 short stories that differed in content but had essentially same tone. If I had to pick my favorites in this collection, these are the ones I'd choose."The Mirror" tells of a man who sees an evil self in a mirror and uses a kendo sword to smash that mirror. "A Folklore For My Generation: A Pre-history of Late Stage Capitalism" is the story of a couple who broke up due to different values and how that issue plays out in later years. "A Perfect Day for Kangaroos" is an adorable story of visiting four kangaroos in the zoo. "The Ice Man" is about a woman who marries a sort of "icy" fellow and then moves with him to the South Pole. "Chance Traveler" is about synchronicity in which a woman with a mole on her ear reminds the author of his sister.I guess I have too many favorites? I would recommend this book, although some stories are better than others. I guess that's the way with any short story collection, but all of the stories in this collection are fun and easy to read. Enjoy!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Murakami's worlds are so complete and believable, as strange as they are, that each story becomes a small journey in itself; you can't help but get carried off by the characters and situations. His take on magical realism is beautifully envisioned, and superb in creation. Even in his short stories, the depth of idea is as realized as it is in his novels, and the writing is as graceful and fast-moving as ever. Absolutely recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The first stories have had an amazing effect on me - one that's going to be hard to describe. Could turn out to be one of my favorite authors.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I read this book long back and then drifted apart to explore other books. This time I decided to read the book from somewhere in middle. I've read about 10 stories. Sometimes they might not seem to have a conclusive end but they nevertheless tell an intriguing story. Some of them have really interesting premise and characters- like a woman who remembers everything but forgets her name (I loved the premise more than the conclusion), a woman who walks the tightrope on high rises, woman who has this disorder that she compulsively buys clothes...wait, all these characters were women. But two of these stories are from man's pov.

    Some of these stories have been published as a part of collection called 'Strange stories from Tokyo'. True enough, most of them have that strange element. There is a story about 'Sharpies' cake that is a satire on literary world (of Japan). Another element you find is music - there are different references of it in every story. You could tell apart characters based on their choice of music.

    The title story is actually quite meta - it's derived from story within a story within a story. Blind willow is fictional resembling an azalea tree that is outside a sleeping woman's house.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The stories ranged in quality, but the ones that I loved I REALLY loved.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Haruki Murakami is clearly (in my opinion) a great writer. I think the stories were largely well written, but I could not get invested in any of the characters or the stories.

    Many had a fantastical feel to them that appealed to me, but in the end, I just couldn't get like any of them enough to fall in love with this collection.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I've only read this book by Murakami, and my review is directed at people who want to read him (how could you not with all the hype surrounding the guy) but don't know where to start. First: This is not where (to start). Murakami's style does not lend itself to short fiction--at best the pieces piqued your curiousity and made you invested in the character, and then ended. It was as if each were the beginning of, or else a synopsis of, a novel. And the same novel, as no matter how unique and imaginative the details of the story were, they were all esstentially the same story. There were potentially a couple of pieces I would've enjoyed immensely had I'd read them on there own, but in the context of the book they were just adding to the monotony.My impression now is that Murakami's novels are probably much better when his prose is given more room to breathe and explore, but also that they are also probably essentially the same. So I expect, after the bad taste of this boring book leaves my mouth, I will pick one up again, read it, really like it, and then stop. Because seriously, this is the point that really needs to be stressed: every single story was the same.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    She just tipped her head a little and said nothing. With her back to me, she allowed her slender fingers to trail in the water. It seemed as if my questions were coursing through her fingers to be conducted to the ruined city beneath the water. It's still down there, I'm sure, the question mark glittering at the bottom of the pond like a polished metal fragment. For all I know, it's showering the cola cans around it with that same question.These are the first of this author’s short stories that I have read and I found the introduction, in which he discussed how his approach to writing short stories differed to his approach to novel-writing, was extremely interesting. The stories themselves were a mixture of realistic possibly semi-autobiographical stories, and stories that included more fantastic elements. For some reason my favourite stories adjoined each other, being the last five stories in the book, starting with "Chance Traveller". I think I liked them best because they had a more optimistic tone than a lot of the earlier stories.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I've read more than once that Murakami is one of the modern masters of short fiction. However, as I began to read through this anthology, I wasn't too impressed. Many of the characters fit the author's own demographic: men coming of age in the '60s or '70s, listening to jazz, Japanese. Many of the stories involved affairs in some way. Mind you, none of the stories were bad, but none had a deep impact on me, either.Then I reached the final stretch.This is a case where they truly did save the best for last. "Chance Traveler," "Hanalei Bay," "A Shinagawa Monkey" were all extraordinary. Murakami has a way of writing in simple, unaffected prose that describes the mundaneness of life and the yearning for something more. I'm glad I read this book, if for those stories alone.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Reading this collection of short works flattens out everything I love about Murakami - the slow buildup, the gentle twists that he develops over the course of his longer works, the subtleties and gradual accumulations that happen over the length of a novel. When condensed into 26 short stories, his style suddenly seems almost hackneyed, nearly predictable or tired. It becomes quickly evident if a pattern is established by his writing - the character introduces himself/herself, the character provides the context of something strange that has happened, the character delves into unrelated but ultimately related side stories often pertaining to sex, weirdness happens, nothing is resolved. I couldn't read more than one story at a time because I would get so tired of what seemed like unchanging structures. I still love his novels, but I think I will stay away from short stories in the future.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Murakami. Short stories. That should be enough to either send you directly to Barnes and Noble today or to make you run away in horror.You love him or you don’t. He is definitely not for all tastes. If you are still scratching your head, I will add: Twilight Zone. But a deeply thoughtful Twilight Zone. Like it had been written by Dostoevsky.I am in the love-Murakami group. I never read books this slowly. I started it sometime this summer and here I am, in September, just now finishing it. Sadly. Did not want to finish it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book blows me away. Despite the short story format, Blind Willow, Weeping Woman took me a while to get through. Murakami's writing is thought provoking and I continually found myself pausing after each story to contemplate what each one really meant. Although I'm sure that my interpretations fall short of what Murakami really intended, what each person finds in these stories says just as much as the plot itself.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Reading Murakami (Haruki) is kind of like dreaming. This was a book of 24 of his short stories. What I noticed is that unlike some short story collections I've read, Murakami has the talent of writing a few first lines that just grab you and make you rush on with the story. But then what seems straightforward, say a simple love affair, ends up being just a firefly stuck in a jar or an endless trip to the south pole; the end sometimes has no relation to the beginning or no apparent relation. Some of the stories lack resolution or obvious resolution. They leave you thinking... the last few lines of text radiating ever wider and overlapping like ripples in a pond. It's like when you dream and all of these seemingly unrelated people and things and places interact and you wake-up thinking 'wow' that was a cool dream. Although the dream made no sense when you woke up, you can't help but think about it, and sometimes tell your best friend. That was this book. My alarm clock is going off now...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have never been a fan of short story collections. I'm one of those who prefer thick books with permanent characters who develop throughout the story and, to be truthful, I don't really know why. There are a lot of good short story volumes out there, but I have always chosen long novels instead. So I have to say that even being a die-hard Murakami fan, I was a little reluctant to read Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. I bought the book in Oxford during the summer of 2007 and had let it collect dust in my shelf, choosing to read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle instead (which I'm not going to talk about now because it deserves another whole new entry).So, after packing my things and getting ready to fly to Germany, I spotted the book in the midst of my Murakami collection and grabbed it at the last minute. Murakami will serve as a moral support if things get bad up there in the north of Europe, I thought. He's one of my favorite authors, after all; I feel instantaneously good when I have a book of his between my hands.I've been in Germany for two months now, but I only started reading this book a week ago, in the train back from the airport after saying goodbye to a dear friend who had come to visit me. I was feeling a little blue, and I knew Murakami would cheer me up (or, at least, keep my mind off reality for a while). And indeed, it did. I was so absorbed reading the Birthday Girl story that I missed the stop and had to wait for an hour to catch another train back to my city. From the beginning, I could spot a lot of the classic Murakami themes: jazz-loving, solitary characters who spend their time reading or going through LP collections, characters who meet strangers who change their lives one way or another, people who suddenly stop recognizing themselves in their own bodies at some point of the story, mysterious and clever cats who seem to have a human-like mind, people disappearing somewhere along the way, and many infidelities and sexual encounters with partners who end up leaving without a trace.The general impression I usually get from his books is a full sensation of nostalgia, loss and loneliness, especially from the coming of age stories with lost teenagers or the adults in their thirties with identity crisis and marriage problems. And despite the unreality of some of the stories, I still find that I can identify with those characters to some degree, because they go through similar experiences or think over issues that I too find myself pondering.I would have liked to write a small comment on every story, but some of them were quite plot-less, and some just didn't move or touch me enough. I've got my favorites, though. 'Man-eating cats' evoked a beautiful scenery, and it reminded me a lot of 'Sputnik Sweetheart', what with the Greek landscape and the disappearance. I also liked 'Nausea 1979', 'Tony Takitani', 'Where I'm Likely to Find It' and 'Chance Traveler' (so beautiful and heart-breaking) among others. 'The ice man' and 'Crabs' were disturbing, and I didn't get 'A poor aunt story' and what Murakami meant by it. I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of things I wanted to comment while I was reading the book, but going through every story thoroughly would take a lot of time that I don't have (college work unfortunately gets in the way).Now, I can't wait to get my scholarship money to head off to the nearest bookstore and buy another book by Haruki Murakami. I may not be able to wait until I get home for Christmas.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When I reached the final story of this compilation of truly brilliant pieces the idea of having to put the book away so soon worried me into taking a two-month break half-way through the story, thus prolonging the experience in a certain way.Seriously: This is probably the best book I have read in recent years. Murakami's stories are full of surprises, strange twists, infinite spaces and little joys. He excells in describing the little nothings in between - moments where absolutely nothing happens and time seems to stand still.A thoroughly great book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman was my first taste of Haruki Murakami. I’m going to give in to cheap metaphor and say that this collection of short stories reminds me of a sushi meal. There are lots of intriguing small bites to eat, the flavors are unique, some good, some not so good, some dishes you recognize and a lot are not readily identifiable.Being an anthology, it is hard to rate the collection. Some stories were absolutely fantastic, others elicited no reaction other than, “OK, that’s the end of the story”. I am not going to review all the stories individually, but I will cite some examples of what I mean.Birthday Girl, was my favorite. The plot would be worthy of a Twilight Zone episode or a short, experimental movie. Very off beat, yet a full story in itself. That is what a short story is supposed to be. A Perfect Day for Kangaroos was a good stream of consciousness type story until one character says to another let’s go for a beer. That’s the end of the story. No resolution, nothing explained and no reaction on my part. I had the same feeling for Hunting Knife. There is a lot of setup, good dialog, but the story just does not go anywhere. Even Kafka’s stories have a direction and a destination. Many of Murakami’s seemed to lack these essentials.Overall, the flat and bad stories outnumber the good stories. Because of this, my rating for this collection is less than average. I am, however, intrigued enough by Murakami’s writing style that I’m going to have a go at one of his full-length works. Hopefully, that will be more satisfying.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    If you want to introduce a friend to Haruki Murakami, this collection of short stories is a great place to start. WUBC may be his masterpiece, but many uninitiated readers will be turned off my its length. Murakami is one of those rare authors who do short stores and full-length novels equally well, so this book will give you a pretty good idea as to whether or not you would enjoy investing the time in reading his novels.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Of course it's all very whimsical and delightful - it's Murakami - but it's also short stories, and there's the (slight) rub. With almost mathematical precision - I'm sure it could be mapped as a Venn diagram or something - the stories either burst on the scene full of promise and then let you down in the end, or seem a little pointless at first and then suddenly, in bare seconds sometimes, spring an ending on ya that's cathartic and beautiful. Both kinds of story end up being enjoyable, neither completely successful. But that's not the point of short stories, is it?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a collection of short stories. Most of them read like he's describing something that happened to him, although a lot of them become very surreal by the end, or aren't really resolved (much like a real occurrence, I guess). I don't have things to say about every story, but here's what I wrote down:"I felt that I knew what he was getting at. At the same time, I felt that I had no idea what he meant." - New York Mining Disaster.Usually a good description of a Murakami story! This particular one made no sense to me whatsoever.The Year of Spaghetti: I love the thought that in Japan you have to go to a specialist shop to buy the kind of herbs required for spaghetti sauce! I never thought of that before."'I'm not just saying this to make you feel good,' Kirie said, 'but you've got something special - that special something it takes to become an outstanding writer. Your stories have a quiet mood, but several of them are quite lively, and the style is beautiful, but mainly your writing is so balanced." - The Kidney-Shaped Stone that Moves Every Day. A good description of Murakami, I think. :)