Luong N > Recent Status Updates

Reading a couple of pages from this book in the bookstore, I decided to buy it right then because the story just gripped me from the start.

Wow. While reading this I can't help but thinking of the Reapers from the Mass Effect franchise

"THe novel that created modern science fiction" -> I can see why. The feeling of dread and doom are very well described here.

No wait this could actually be good...

For the queen: 2.5
Knife: 2

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

The 2000s movie might be more interesting than this. Yawn

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...

I was surprised to find that the book version of this story is entirely Different than the movies the movie version namely The One back in the 2000 and recently hot garbage that we have got Starring a certain ice cube

Oh my. What a great story. Reminds me of The Yellow Wallpaper, but much more psychological and disturbing. If I can give more scores I would. Perfect 5/5.

Okay. I finished that story. Upon arriving at the ending, I thought, hey, that was abrupt. So she finally gave in to insanity, that's it huh. I wasn't satisfied. So after a round of the internet, one interpretation rocked my mind and literally gave me shivers: the shadowy men rocking her back and forth is her husband and son, trying to wake her from her finally sleeping and put her back to her mundane routine life.

Who haven't had million of thoughts when you can't sleep?

This whole story is basically one long internal monologues and it's hard not to feel sympathy for the character, who still exists in today's world - the housewife, the mother whose day-to-day life consists of the same routine, whose life got churned into meaningless cycles of tasks and responsibilities.

Okay, reading to feel asleep is... so me. Im reading a character, describing something that...im doing

Losing your self-identifying hobby just because of growing up and having no time to do so is sad but again, relatable to so many of us out there. That's why brands BANK on nostalgia.

My gawd. This story is SO RELATABLE. As adults, who haven't got a sleepless night once? Who haven't tried everything to get their mind to shut up? Who haven't got a nightmare and sleep paralysis when you finally do get some sleep? I was quite surprised to find that this story is also another horror-adjecent themed, and even more surprised to see that I was actually scared when reading about her nightmare.

6th story. Ah , you cant have a murakami story without sex...

5th story: Zombie!
This brief one is full-blown horror - and I enjoyed it tremendously! I feel like it could even sit comfortably in one of Stephen King's short story collections - it's dark, short, and disturbing. Perfect 5/5!

Note: Apparently, "Kano Creta" and "Zombie" remained untranslated for English readers, which is such a shame!

...Score: 4/5

The 4th story, Kano Creta. By this time I was fairly used to Murakami's writing style and topics. But this story got my eyes opened wide with surprise: it was filled with supernatural horror. My god. Murakami really unleashed himself here. By the end, not only my eyes, but my mouth opened too. A disturbingly creepy story, and I dare say it's even darker than the darkest stuff that any western writer can come up with

... score: 4/5

...and why the narrator, at the end, changed his previous impressions of the character and became sympathetic to him.