Being a late laggard has its advantages. I discover Haruki Murakami thanks to
Scheherazade in the New Yorker and am instantly hooked. The advantage is that there is a great, and
big body of work to now savour given how prolific this author has been (writing
since the 1980s).
However, Haruki is not everyone’s cup of tea and can be
challenging – and perhaps that challenge is the very thing that makes his short
stories and novels interesting.
Haruki’s stories can have various effects – right from
melancholy, to surprise, regret, an epiphany, nostalgia, interest – the whole
panoply of emotions can come through at any point. As you go through them. But
the one which is inevitable is a strong desire to discuss this immediately.
