I love the titles Haruki Murakami chooses for all his works. They're all so uncommon. Just finished reading his latest work, which is a compilation of short stories in this book entitled Blind Willow, Weeping Woman. Don't you think the title alone entices you to want to read this book? Don't you wonder what is a blind willow? Shouldn't it be Weeping Willow, Blind Woman?
His best book title to date? I love the sound of "Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World" as you spew the words out of your mouth. And "Wind-up Bird Chronicle" - so unforgettable.
Honestly, I prefer his novels over his short stories. Not that he doesn't write good short stories, (in my opinion, nothing that Murakami writes is bad, I am very prejudiced coz I like his works alot) - on the contrary, apparently Murakami just won a Kiriyama Prize for Blind Willow. I like the thrill of getting lost in his surreal world whenever I read his works, somehow, short stories are simply too short for me to linger in it.
We Singaporeans might be proud to know that Murakami used Singapore as a backdrop in one of his short stories entitled "Crab". A couple's relationship became unbalanced after they dined everyday on exquisite crabs at a wonderful restaurant while holidaying in Singapore. I always believe that a writer usually writes what s/he has experienced before, so I'm sure Murakami has been to Singapore and liked our chilli crabs. Yay!
My favourite story in this book is Tony Takitani . It was made into a movie a couple of years back and I went to watch it - think it was featured during a Japanese festival or something like that. The whole story reeked of loneliness - a deep sense of longing, loneliness and the emptiness of life that exempliflied how I often felt about life in general. Oh, I don't mean that loneliness is necessarily a bad thing. I think all of us humans feel lonely in various degrees, perhaps introspective people feel it more than others, that's all. Most times, I think I actually revel in this feeling of solitude.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
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5 comments:
"Tony Takitami"! Now I can honestly say I've read Haruki Murakimi. I came across it from the Summer 2006 issue of the "Zoetrope: All-Story" magazine. Have blogged about it here.
Ivan, can I offer you a challenge? If you will read one Haruki Murakami novel that I pick, then I will read cover to cover one Sci-Fi book that you recommend. How's that to change yours and mine opinions of each other's reading favourites? Then, we'll have to blog our reviews of the books we chose for each other in our own blogs ok? ('v')
Sure! On lah!!! Actually, I stand to gain from this bec. I've been trying to get Murakami's works but either it's not on shelf or I sort of miss it when I drop by the libraries.
Ok, Ivan. It's on then. I'll read one book title recommended by you, and you will read 1 Murakami. We will then blog about our reviews. ('V')
The Random House page has a typo -- should be "Sleeping Woman".
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