First Person Singuar by Haruki Murakami, Translated by Philip Gabriel

 

MY honest opinion about this book is that I didn't like it as much as I liked Haruki Murakami's other books. There are eight short stories and only three of them captured my interest.

The stories are written in first person hence the title of the book. Some of them don't have definite plots but  recollections of the narrator's memories from different times in his life. 

The three stories which I really like are On a Stone Pillow, With the Beatles, and Confessions of a Shinegawa Monkey.

On a Stone Pillow is about a Tanka writer who carries an unrequited love.

With the Beatles is one of the stories that has no definite plot. What captured my interest was the narrator's girlfriend's brother who suffers from a memory loss from time to time. This story has been published in the The New Yorker February 2020 issue. 

Published in TNY February 2020 issue

Confessions of a Shinegawa Monkey is my most favorite story and I love that a monkey is on the book cover! It is about a talking monkey that works in a hot springs inn. The monkey has been raised by a Professor so he acts and talks like humans. He is an outcast among the other monkeys and he only feels attracted to female humans.  Therefore he led a somewhat lonely life. But he has a special power (or so he says). He steals the names of ones he is attracted to. By stealing their name, it fulfils his loneliness, but the women end up losing a part of their identity.

The other stories in the book did not interest me much, but I love the reference to music. From Jazz to Bossa Nova to classic. The story which I like the least is the one that talks a lot about baseball. I don't have any knowledge of the game and I am not interested in that sport so it was really hard for me to read.

In summary, here are my ratings for each story:

Cream ★
On a Stone Pillow ★★★
Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova ★
With the Beatles ★★★★
Confessions of a Shinegawa Monkey ★★★★
Carnaval ★★
The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection ★
First Person Singular ★

The book is 256 pages so it can be read in a day if you're not doing anything else.