I once asked a Haruki Murakami reader, where would you place his books? Not Harold Bloom but equally opinionated, the faithful reader immediately replied, and added, “Magical realism; the plots are plausible, yet they are not.” He, of course, was referring to the absurd scenarios in Murakami’s stories made superbly feasible by his elegant storytelling; for example, A Shingawa Monkey (2006), in which a monkey from one of Tokyo’s special wards steals names of young women whom he desires. I refer to this essay only because the monkey and its story reappear in this collection.
There are eight stories in all and the magic unleashed is a testament to not only Murakami but also his polyglot translator Philip Gabriel. In Murakami’s book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, we get to understand his passion for running. Likewise in this, the author’s relationship with music is reinforced, almost to the point of being didactic. In fact, reading First Person Singular will ge