Haruki Murakami

You've just passed someone on the street who could be the love of your life, the person you're destined for - what do you do? In Murakami's world, you tell them a story. The five weird and wonderful tales collected here each unlock the many-tongued language of desire, whether it takes the form of hunger, lust, sudden infatuation or the secret longings of the heart.Selected from Haruki's Murakami's short story collections The Elephant Vanishes, Blind Willow Sleeping Woman, Men Without WomenVINTAGE MINIS- GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS.A series of short books by the world's greatest writers on the experiences that make us humanAlso in the Vintage Minis series- Love by Jeanette WintersonPsychedelics by Aldous HuxleyEating by Nigella LawsonSummer by Laurie Lee

Desire

Srijita Sarkar 

The ideas I come up with are never very practical.

raia – inactive

'Maybe working on the little things as dutifully and honestly as we can is how we stay sane when the world is falling apart.'

You’ve just passed someone on the street who could be the love of your life, the person you’re destined for – what do you do? In Murakami’s world, you tell them a story. The five weird and wonderful tales collected here each unlock the many-tongued language of desire, whether it takes the form of hunger, lust, sudden infatuation or the secret longings of the heart. Selected from Haruki’s Murakami’s short story collections The Elephant Vanishes, Blind Willow Sleeping Woman, Men Without Women VINTAGE MINIS: GREAT MINDS. BIG IDEAS. LITTLE BOOKS. A series of short books by the world’s greatest writers on the experiences that make us human Also in the Vintage Minis series: Love by Jeanette Winterson Psychedelics by Aldous Huxley Eating by Nigella Lawson Summer by Laurie Lee

Vintage Minis

anna

Desire by Murakami is a collection of bootless short stories, the central theme of which orbits around the concept of "human desire" in its various guises. The book, in all honesty, is a poor, deadening effort to capture the depths and vulnerability of humans and their desires of all and any kind. Centred around characters that neither seem to fascinate nor connect, the stories stumble from the start.

From the first story, The Second Bakery Attack, followed by On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning, and The Birthday Girl, Murakami seemed persistent in failing both his stories and his characters, who quite frankly lacked any personality.  However, the story that followed these - Samsa in Love set out rather interestingly, knowing the inspiration for the character, Gregor Samsa. The premise of this story convinced itself to be promising, eerie, yet something exciting seemed to await. And just as it takes its form, it only withers into what can best be described as a scornful imitation of a tribute, if it even intended to be one at all.  

Desire is a beautiful feeling, an ache even, to yearn the unfulfilled, the eagerness to grasp and hold that which may never even grace you. Yet you long for it, it aches, but there's hope in that desire. It's beautiful.  But Murakami not only dwindles in capturing the beauty or the pain of that desire, but also curtails it to something that borders on perversion. Disgusting. The last story doesn't hold anythign striking in particular either.

Overall, the stories proved to be purely ineffectual. Despite such a powerful concept, sadly, no element—be it the plot, the premise, thematic exploration, or the writing style — stood its ground to support the book's effectiveness. Murakami’s writing, though easy in its flow, simultaneously lacked depth and any real effort in these stories, rendering the book as a whole bland, shallow, and ultimately inept. 

The only thing that prompted me to finish reading this book, despite my disappointment from the first story, was my genuine incompetency to DNF a book, and my unwavering commitment to being a well-informed hater.

Desire by Murakami is a collection of bootless short stories, the central theme of which orbits around the concept of "human desire" in its various guises. The book, in all honesty, is a poor, deadening effort to capture the depths and vulnerability of humans and their desires of all and any kind. Centred around characters that neither seem to fascinate nor connect, the stories stumble from the start.

From the first story, The Second Bakery Attack, followed by On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning, and The Birthday Girl, Murakami seemed persistent in failing both his stories and his characters, who quite frankly lacked any personality.  However, the story that followed these - Samsa in Love set out rather interestingly, knowing the inspiration for the character, Gregor Samsa. The premise of this story convinced itself to be promising, eerie, yet something exciting seemed to await. And just as it takes its form, it only withers into what can best be described as a scornful imitation of a tribute, if it even intended to be one at all.  

Desire is a beautiful feeling, an ache even, to yearn the unfulfilled, the eagerness to grasp and hold that which may never even grace you. Yet you long for it, it aches, but there's hope in that desire. It's beautiful.  But Murakami not only dwindles in capturing the beauty or the pain of that desire, but also curtails it to something that borders on perversion. Disgusting. The last story doesn't hold anythign striking in particular either.

Overall, the stories proved to be purely ineffectual. Despite such a powerful concept, sadly, no element—be it the plot, the premise, thematic exploration, or the writing style — stood its ground to support the book's effectiveness. Murakami’s writing, though easy in its flow, simultaneously lacked depth and any real effort in these stories, rendering the book as a whole bland, shallow, and ultimately inept. 

The only thing that prompted me to finish reading this book, despite my disappointment from the first story, was my genuine incompetency to DNF a book, and my unwavering commitment to being a well-informed hater.

Ghofran Mustafa 

i love coming back to these short stories..love is a hunger and i want to rob the mcdonald’s with my lover

A collection of short stories, some more touching than others, some with an eerie feeling to them. As I was torn between liking the stories and being a bit put off, i'll rate this in the mid section and note to myself that Murakami might not be the author that totally catches me. 

Leonie

3.75 / 5.00

A collection of short stories, some more touching than others, some with an eerie feeling to them. As I was torn between liking the stories and being a bit put off, i'll rate this in the mid section and note to myself that Murakami might not be the author that totally catches me. 

Midori Kobayashi

five short stories that left me wanting more. birthday girl is one of my all time fav short stories by murakami and the others were equally enjoyable too

Olivera Mitić

If all of the stories were like the last one, this would have been solid.

A wonderfully written collection of short stories about what it means to desire something, as much as they tell what being alive means. Murakami masters the art of giving seemingly 'normal' daily-life stories a hint of the unexpected. Enough to be sucked into his tales, but never too much to be overwhelmed by it. My favourite, by far, was the short story 'Birthday Girl'.

Desire

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