Status Updates From 回転木馬のデッドヒート

For the queen: 2.5
Knife: 2

The final story, hunting knife, might be the worst of them all

it's a cool concept overall, and I did enjoy several of the stories in it. Some stories however, are so similar to each other, that I have trouble remembering what it's about

Lederhosen: 3.5/5
The man in the Taxi: 3/5
Poolside:
For the Now-Deceased Princess
Nausea 1979: 3.75/5
Taking Shelter from the Rain: 3.75/5
Baseball Field: 3.75/5
Hunting Knife

This book might as well be named: "Random stories: by friends and acquaintances of Murakami (mostly involving sex)"

Hmm lots of stories in this book have the same motifs and characters are very similar to each other

to add fuel to the flame, 3 pages in this book is missing - not torn from the book, but missing, as in blank - the printer must have malfunctioned when printing these pages. As a result, I had to go to the internet to read these 3 missing pages - ironically, these missing pages are full of sex as well, and the stories are mediocre.

the stories in this book were actually included with my Vietnamese edition of TV people - buuuut, trying to respect the original order, and the stories in the 2 books are so much different! TV people is full of experimental, commentary, even horror stuff.

This book.... is full of sex.

coming from TV people - which might be one of my most favorite short stories collection of all - I had high hopes for this one. But alas...

most of the stories involved sex (and most of the time it's himself who's involved in the sex)... and I'm guessing by the time he wrote this book of short stories he wasn't blowing up yet (yes pun intended)

this book is weird. most of the characters are Murakami himself...