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Unknown Binding
We have reviewed your case in a conscientious manner, and the verdict was reached that the nature of your complaint would designate it to be given a rank of C. The reason for that is - please listen closely,Out of his 75 or so short stories I've read, this one is one of my favourites. It seems strange to even call it a short story. It's the transcribed text of an audio cassette tape a worker in the department store's product management department sends to a customer who sent in a letter of complaint. I love the sheer creativity of this work.
1. A record that has been purchased
2. especially after a whole week has elapsed
3. and without a receipt,
cannot be replaced with another item.
It is not possible anywhere in the world.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
Thus ends my explanation.
Your complaint has been denied. (p.4)
However, distancing myself from an occupational perspective - to be honest I find myself distant from it quite often - I'm truly sympathetic towards your complaint, of having mixed up the purchase between a Brahms symphony and Mahler symphony. This is not a lie. That's why, instead of sending you a purely formal response, I am sending this rather personal message in this way. (p.5)You see, reading this story again, I just want to translate all of it because I love it so much. With the other authors I've come to call my favourites this year, Dostoyevsky and to a lesser extent Proust and Pessoa (I've only read one of their works), it isn't so difficult for me to explain why I like them, what it is about their books that pull me in. With Murakami, I just love everything.
I've given up on writing. Not even a simple, purely formal response. I can't trust the letters themselves. For example, I write the word 'coincidence'. However, the impression you receive reading this sequence of letters may be completely different to, or even the opposite of my intended meaning. I feel, isn't this really unfair? I've already taken off my underwear, but you have only taken off three of the buttons on your blouse, this is unfair no matter how you think about it. I don't like unfairness. Of course, the world itself is unfair. However, at the very least, I don't want to actively contribute to such a thing. That's my basic stance.I've given up on talking about him (for this review at least). I have the opportunity to write about him in subsequent reviews of all of his other works. I just want to share his writing - you know the feeling you have with your favourite author. Let me just translate more excerpts from this story. As I've read some reviewers saying, it really is difficult to properly review your favourite author. Everything is so subjective.
That's why I decided to voice my message into this cassette tape.
(whistling the eight bar Colonel Bogey March) (p.6)
I don't know how you'll feel receiving this letter - or cassette tape - from me. I have no idea at all. It might be that it strongly annoys you. Well, for a product management staff officer of a department store to reply to a customer's complaint by sending a voiced message in a cassette tape - and a personal one at that - is an unprecedented occurrence whoever thinks about it, and perhaps it is even utterly idiotic. And if you felt uncomfortable, or became angered, and sent this tape back to my superior, I would be left to stand in an incredibly awkward position in the workplace. (p.7)In this story, the worker has fallen in love with the letter of complaint from the woman (schoolgirl? grandmother? all he knows is her name and address), and admits that it sexually arouses him. He is aware that sending a voiced message like this is absurd, but he must do it. He goes from talking about his work, and the letter, to more personal things. Idiosyncrasies, metaphysics, philosophies. He has never talked about himself this much in his life. He can't stop. And all because of a letter of complaint.
I apologise for the terrible analogy, but as a zoologist would be able to discern an elephant's diet, behavioural patterns, weight and sex life from its feces collected in the jungle, I can feel the existence of your person through a single letter. I'm not talking about trivial things like appearance or the type of perfume you wear. It's existence - itself.Now that I read over these passages, it's somewhat strange to think that this is one of my favourite short stories. What do I get out from it? Pure enjoyment of reading.
Your letter was truly enchanting. The prose, the handwriting, the punctuation, the line breaks, the rhetoric, everything is perfect. I'm not saying the quality is high. No, it is simply perfect. There is no space for modifications. I read over 500 letters and reports regarding complaints every month, but honestly, I have never read a letter of complaint as moving as yours. I secretly took your letter home, and read it over and over again. And I analysed it thoroughly. It's a short letter, so it's nothing tedious. Through the analysis, I reached various findings. Firstly, the number of commas is overwhelmingly high. 6.36 commas for each full stop, how's that, don't you think that's a lot? No, that isn't all. The positioning of the commas is absolutely unprincipled. (p.11)