Judging from my experience, Haruki Murakami is among the world's most-recommended authors. I had heard Murakami's surreal novels and short stories praised for years, and I had in fact bought a few of his books, but I've never had the time to actually read one of his books until I was asked to review his new short story collection Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman for this paper.
From now on, I too will be recommending Murakami's books.
Haruki Murakami is a Japanese author (his books are all in translation) known for such novels as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. His stories have the reputation of being both surreal and thought-provoking, though prior to reading this novel, I had no clue whether this was true or not. It was.
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman consists of 24 short stories, the longest of which is no more than 25 pages. Though all his stories are legitimately "short," all of Murkami's stories are powerful and worth reading.
Murakami's best stories mix humor and sadness as well as any author I know; other stories demonstrate his mastery of the surreal. In any case, I would find it impossible to name a single favorite piece from the collection.
Several times already, I've mentioned Murakami's famous use of the surreal. While many of the stories in Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman contain some element of the strange or fantastic, notably "Dabchick," "The Mirror," "The Ice Man," "A Shinagawa Monkey," and "A 'Poor Aunt' Story," many of Murakami's stories are essentially naturalistic. As well-known as his penchant for surrealism may be, Murakami is not a one-note author.
Murakami's stories are generally written in a rather colloquial and vernacular language, but this does not preclude elegance and eloquence of language, both of which are on display in nearly every story. Murakami knows how to create a memorable sentence. Take, for example, the opening line of the story "New York Mining Disaster:" "A friend of mine has a habit of going to the zoo whenever there's a typhoon." Other stories open with fatal shark attacks or the information that "My husband's father was run over by a streetcar three years ago and died." The stories in Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman do not suffer from a lack of incident.
Murakami's stories, however, are not transparent in meaning. The author seems to expect a meditative reader willing to consider and ponder what he or she has just read; the reader must determine the significance of the tale.
In one story, "Chance Traveler," the author introduces himself as a character; Murakami says that he will "relate directly several so-called strange events that have happened to me." He notes that some such occurrences are "significant," but also writes, "Others are insignificant incidents that have no impact at all. At least I think so." Murakami leaves it to his reader to puzzle out what, if anything, is significant in his stories. In one sense, the reader must be a participant in the stories.
At this point, you may be wondering just what the stories in Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman actually concern. Murakami's stories have a wide range, but the plight of the modern man and woman is a recurring theme; Murakami writes about love and sex ("Man-Eating Cats," "Firefly"), loneliness ("The Year of Spaghetti"), identity ("A Shinagawa Monkey"), and death and grief ("The Seventh Man," "Hanalei Bay"). Even when dealing with such frequently dark themes, however, Murakami's stories remain enjoyable to read, and the stories are quite often funny. This is not, whatever other portions of this review may suggest, a depressing read.
I may not be able to choose a single favorite story from Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, but there are several stories that I thought especially good. "Firefly," as Murakami states in his introduction, turned into his novel Norwegian Wood. I found this story, about the relation between a college student and his dead friend's girlfriend, among the most moving stories in the collection.
"The Seventh Man" is one of the darkest stories in the collection, but it is also the most compelling. "The Mirror" shows just how much Murakami can do in less than 10 pages; it is an impressive achievement.
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is a great introduction to Haruki Murakami's work. It's a rather long collection (over 300 pages), but I believe that even the pickiest reader will find something to enjoy. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is among the best books that I have read this year. A
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