Tolles Buch, perfekt für meinen Sommerurlaub! Die zehn kleinen Geschichten sind jeweils schnell gelesen und daher toll für einen Strand oder Schwimmbadbesuch. Zudem geben sie - wie bei Murakami üblich - viel Stoff zum Nachdenken. Man kann also eine Geschichte lesen und dann den restlichen Tag darüber nachdenken. :) Murakamis Stil wird oft als "magischer Realismus" bezeichnet und das trifft den Nagel eigentlich auf den Kopf. Durch den Bezug auf (aktuelle) Popkultur ergänzt mit ein paar wenigen Aspekten und kleinen Momenten, die zur Fantasy gehören und daher "magisch" wirken. Das lässt einen wirklich schnell träumen und ist aufs echte Leben anwendbar. Perfekt auch insbesondere für Liebhaber von Japan, Baseball, klassischer Musik oder Jazz Blues, da diese Bezüge oft vorkommen. :) Read more

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The touching stories in First Person Singular are ones to read through the heart’s eye. They range in tone from humorous to mysterious to straight out sinister, but seem to come together within the theme of memory. They also offer some glimpses into poetry by the author, which was delightful to say the least! And I couldn’t not give it its spotlight: Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova brought me to tears through its tenderness. Even for just this story, it’s worth to have the book. The Harvill Sacker hardback unfortunately has some typos in it, but it’s otherwise a beautiful book. Read more

Each story title contains an allusion to an insightful subject I did not know about or read about before. "Carnaval" is an allusion to a classical piano piece by a German composer named Robert Schumann. I enjoyed discovering this music. I liked listening to Carnaval because it contains a combination of upbeat and somber parts. Haruki Murakami uses the theme of music to bring his male and female characters together. I have a greater appreciation for classical music because of this story. “The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection” is a special because of the theme. The allusion is to a Japanese baseball team. Murakami's love of baseball inspires him to write poems about the sport. His poem about the butts of the outfielders on the team is very funny. Murakami also writes how baseball helped him connect to his father. The connection Murakami and father have because of baseball is touching. “Confessions of A Shinagawa Monkey” is a creative story about a conversation between a man has with a talking monkey. I have read about a monkey’s ability to say a few words, but I have never read a story with this subject before. I like how Murakami gives the monkey human qualities. The monkey in the story loves to drink beer and loves beautiful women. I found these traits to be funny. The allusions in this book are mysterious in the beginning, but the enjoyment is discovering the significance of each one by reading the stories further. Read more

Me parece un buen libro de cuentos de Murakami, aunque definitivamente no es el mejor. Los cuentos estan bien, en su mayoria. Hubo dos que no terminaron de convencerme. Recibí la versión Estadounidense. Las hojas son gruesas y la tipografía está bien, la sobrecubierta alusiva a Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey esta muy mona, pero debajo la cubierta alusiva a Charlie Parker plays Bossa Nova no me gustó. Hubiera preferido que fueran igual a la sobrecubierta, pero que más da. Read more

I loved the stories. Read more