海角大神

The announcement of a new Haruki Murakami title inspires gleeful anticipation: Will there be music (classical, jazz, Beatles 鈥� yes), baseball (certainly), local watering holes (take a seat), thwarted young love (indubitably), the impossible made ordinary (naturally), and ... cats (meow)?

The Japanese writer doesn鈥檛 disappoint in his latest collection to arrive stateside, 鈥淔irst Person Singular,鈥� a phrase that also succinctly summarizes his preferred writing style: The eight stories are each revealed by a contemplative 鈥淚鈥�-narrator. Over the 40-plus years Murakami has produced novels, short stories, nonfiction, and personal essays, he鈥檚 first and foremost a remarkably accessible storyteller. His books are an intimate invitation to revel in his perpetually unpredictable, yet remarkably convincing, imagination.

Take, for example, 鈥淐onfessions of a Shinagawa Monkey鈥� 鈥� the title already signals a willingness to suspend reality as monkeys don鈥檛 talk, much less confess. The plot outline could verge on the nonsensical: A traveler at a rural inn with hot springs; a low-voiced monkey offering back-scrubbing assistance; an evening sharing drinks, snacks, secrets; the narrator鈥檚 meeting five years later with an editor whose sudden inability to remember her own name confirms the lovelorn Shinagawa Monkey鈥檚 penchant for stealing women鈥檚 identities. Dubious 鈥�? And yet Murakami writes with such assurance as to turn the implausible credible, the outlandish engrossing.听

Each story enthralls. (Readers should be aware some of the stories are not appropriate for everyone.)

The collection opens with 鈥淐ream,鈥� immediately drawing readers into a recognizable Murakami milieu. An older man shares an 鈥渋ncomprehensible, inexplicable鈥� experience with a younger friend. At 18, the narrator arrived for a childhood piano duet-partner鈥檚 performance to find nothing happening, no one there. Leaving bewildered, he encounters a mysterious old man at a nearby park whose cryptic talk of circles correlates to understanding the 鈥渃ream of your life.鈥澨�

Revisiting a youthful encounter also drives 鈥淥n a Stone Pillow,鈥� in which the narrator recalls an evening his 19-year-old-self spent with a slightly older woman. Her tanka poetry folio she later sends remains one of the most affecting memories of his young adulthood. Lost teenage love reappears in 鈥淲ith the Beatles,鈥� featuring an aging narrator鈥檚 high school recollection of seeing a girl carrying a Beatles album, a once-in-a-lifetime glance so dazzling that it becomes the barometer by which he measures every romantic relationship.

Music, a common Murakami obsession, highlights two stories: in 鈥淐harlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova,鈥� Murakami magically resurrects 鈥淭he Bird鈥� with a 1963 album that couldn鈥檛 possibly exist, but somehow might; in 鈥淐arnaval,鈥� the narrator quickly develops a rewarding, albeit short-lived, friendship with 鈥渢he ugliest鈥� woman he鈥檚 ever met over classical music, both agreeing Schumann鈥檚 鈥淐arnaval鈥� to be the one piano piece to take to a desert island.听

Baseball, another Murakami passion, headlines 鈥淭he Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection,鈥� unique in its revelation that Murakami 鈥� indeed a lifelong devotee of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows since 1968 when they were the Sankei Atoms 鈥� names himself as narrator. Additional autobiographical overlaps craftily create a challenging pastime for Murakami aficionados to glean fact from fiction.听

Murakami concludes with the titular 鈥淔irst Person Singular,鈥� in which the casually dressed narrator occasionally dons a fancy suit and wanders out; this time he bypasses his local establishment where he might be recognized, and ventures to a further spot where he has a disturbing encounter with a stranger who claims to be the friend of a friend, accusing him of 鈥渁 horrible, awful thing you did鈥� three years ago. The experience turns 鈥渇irst person singular鈥� into a possible 鈥渇irst person plural,鈥� as if we might all somehow, sometimes, be someone else doing something unknown 鈥� a concept Murakami tangentially also explores in 鈥淲ith the Beatles,鈥� as well as other previous fiction. Suddenly, Murakami has managed to 鈥淸sweep] any sense of logic away鈥� 鈥� and readers are left wanting more.

In this story collection, Murakami continues his partnership with University of Arizona professor Philip Gabriel, one of Murakami鈥檚 preferred translators. Avid fans might notice that six stories previously appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, and Freeman鈥檚, but to savor the collection in full will undoubtedly prove to be a beguiling gift.听

Terry Hong writes , a blog for the .听听