Even the most ardent members of Haruki Murakami's overwhelming global following will admit that the Japanese author's career has been in a prolonged nadir since the publication of 1Q84. There's no doubt that his fame and loyal fans-ranging from high schoolers to the New York intelligentsia-fuel his continued, unconditional success. This begs the question to readers, old and new: to what extent does Murakami simply write what he knows will sell? What are we looking for when we read his stories, and how does that in turn influence the texts?
These are the questions I ask myself in this honest review of Murakami's new short story collection "First Person Singular" published in English by Penguin Random House on April 6, 2021. I don't claim to represent all Murakami fans, this review just shows one perspective from a longtime observer of the author's career.
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Medium article "Is This the End of Haruki Murakami's Career?":
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"Ranking All of Haruki Murakami's Novels": • Ranking All of Haruki ...
"Why I Read Haruki Murakami":
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