A nice collection of unique little stories by Murakami, each one memorable in it's own way. I always love reading his stories, and many times I will re-read them right away, thinking "what did I just read?". A beautiful little book, that can be stuck in a coat pocket and read in the park while enjoying the day after a nice walk... ( )

Not my favorite collection, or it just hit me wrong this time. Actual notes:
Ugh. Are all men toxic? I think I'm past this phase. But some of it was still good. ( )

Six stories, all very Murakami, all good. ( )

Each of the stories in this collection is set one month after the devastating 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan. That alone is the tie that binds and even then it is loosely bound. The earthquake is peripheral to each story at best and yet there is something decidedly central about its occurance. These stories feel like the ripples on a lake into which the earthquake has been thrown.

For me, Murakami's genius lies in his ability to craft such distinct and powerful characters. He tells profound truths through simple storytelling and earnest protagonists. The value of life, the importance of connecting with other human beings, the intense psychic power that disaster and trauma bring about in humans is delicately and beautifully explored in this short collection. ( )

La magnitud del terremoto que en 1995 asoló la ciudad japonesa de Kobe, y que se cobró más de cinco mil vidas, inspiró a Haruki Murakami seis impactantes relatos que transcurren poco después de la tragedia. Un comercial de equipos de sonido al que su mujer abandona abruptamente tras el seísmo, una adolescente huida de su casa, un chófer que trata de mitigar la misteriosa melancolía que consume a una mujer, un joven huérfano cuya existencia da un giro al descubrir parte de su pasado, un modesto empleado de banco a quien una rana gigantesca le pide ayuda para salvar a Tokio de un segundo terremoto, y un escritor con dificultades para «escribir» su propia vida son los protagonistas de los seis cuentos que componen el volumen. El protagonista omnipresente, sin embargo, es el propio seísmo, que irrumpe sutil o significativamente en las vidas de aquellos que sobrevivieron al apocalipsis. Sólo Murakami podía transmitir en seis historias tantas verdades sobre la compasión, el coraje y el sufrimiento humano.