Kyle’s Reviews > Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman > Status Update
Kyle
is on page 208 of 362
Waxing poetically about the things that sustain man and beast alike: friendship, food, clothes, money. These short stories hint at a few other intangible qualities that eat away at us as we consume our collectibles. Tony has the most at stake, what with his wayward father’s record collection and his dress-obsessed wife, the only thing you can do with such excess is let it all go, or else the crows are gonna getcha!
— May 21, 2022 04:13PM
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Kyle’s Previous Updates
Kyle
is on page 268 of 362
Ice, crabs, flag, firefly: are they each a metaphor or not? If so, how? If not, what else? The stories and titles stray further apart, and it is only with the most abstract title “Chance Traveler” that we get a first- and third-person narrative, sharing a common thread of coincidence. Is traveler another word to ponder over? Still, Murakami steps out his hetero zone with his only gay character I’ve read so far.
— Jun 04, 2022 05:09PM
Kyle
is on page 162 of 362
The stories start to venture into strange animal parables, almost as if they were b-sides from the The Elephant Vanishes with a bossy bird and nasty cats—I’ll soon get around to reading that other collection to find they are really about adulterous whiskey-drinkers, par for Murakami’s course. A most peculiar species is the shape-shifting poor aunt whose presence and absence remain an elaborate mystery,
— May 06, 2022 03:51PM
Kyle
is on page 104 of 362
The next set of short stories takes a while to get into the story parts, yet the preamble nicely builds tension, as it reaches a perfect pitch for “The Mirror” and makes “A Perfect Day for Kangaroos” seem more like a question than a statement. “Folklore” takes it leisurely time yo tell its tale, like two estranged classmates in Italy, while “Hunting Knife” cuts a sudden slice at the end of a vacation.
— Apr 17, 2022 09:03PM
Kyle
is on page 54 of 362
Difficult to determine an exact date for these short stories, but they all display telltales of Murakami’s novice skill: meandering thoughts of some gormless young guy, a stalled romance with someone else’s gal, and a title that is extremely incidental to the plot. Even “Birthday Girl” is really about an interlocutor who couldn’t quite figure out what was on the titular girl’s mind when she made her wish.
— Apr 11, 2022 08:09AM
