كثيرا ما يجد موراكامي متعة في جعلنا ندور حول نفسنا و نبحث عن رؤوسنا التي يتلاعب بها دون أن ندرك الهدف إلا في أحيان قليلة و يبقى عزاءنا الوحيد في متعة القراءة و محاولة فك الطلاسم.
عالم الأمنيات يسيطر على هذه المجموعة منذ الجزء الأول و هنا في افتتاحية الجزء الثاني يجد محدثنا نفسه يتمنى أمنيتات و تتحقق و يحدث أخته التي انقطع عنها لعدة سنوات ليجدها في انتظار مكالمته ثم ... ثم ماذا؟ حقيقة أنا لا أعرف فعلى حين غرة و فجأة كالعادة .. انتهت القصة كما بدأت.
من مجموعة  حدائق موراكامي - الجزء الثاني

24 short stories.

BLIND WILLOW; SLEEPING WOMAN

fraudio
spring 2012
dip in dip out
tbr busting 2012
short stories


Tried this a couple of years ago however it seems that the timing was not right and put it on the back-burner. This time around gives a 3* and all the Marukami ingredients are in there:

Wells - check
Cats - check
Wishes - check
Ghosts - check
Earthquake and storm references - check


Finished: 20/4

به عقیده من موراکامی توی رمان خیلی بهتر میتونه یدرخشه تا داستان های کوتاه. حوصلم با خوندن این کتاب سر میرفت و به سختی تموم شد. با این حال هنوز نمیتونم قطعی بگم که موراکامی توی داستان کوتاه ضعیفه. امیدوارم فقط این کتاب استثنا باشه

Milý Murakami, veľmi rada ťa spoznávam. Už som o tebe a tvojich dielach počúvala dlho, no akosi nikdy neprišiel správny čas. Až tento mesiac, keď sa tvoja zbierka poviedok stala knihou mesiaca v Čitateľskom klube Martinusu.

Poviedky podľa mňa predstavujú skvelý spôsob, ako sa zoznámiť s autorom. Najmä ak ide o zbierku plnú rôznorodých tém. V tejto tvojej zbierke sa nachádzalo až 24 poviedok. Odohrávali sa po celom svete, ukazovali svet v jeho jednoduchosti či poukázali na zložitosť života, predstavili ľudí takých akí sú alebo akými chcú byť. Niektoré boli ľahké ako pierko a iba tíško pohľadili myseľ. Pri ďaľších sa mi medzi obočím vytvorila vráska od snahy príbeh uchopiť.

Tak, ako to už býva, niektoré poviedky mi boli bližšie a ešte teraz sa k nim v myšlienkach kde-tu vrátim. Pri niektorých zas musím priznať, že neboli úplne moja šálka kávy. Vďaka tým prvým viem, že po tvojej knihe ešte niekedy siahnem. Pretože tvoje motívy príbehov a špecifický spôsob, akým plynú, by som chcela spoznať aj v prepracovanejšom formáte.

Uvidíme sa pri ďalšej tvojej knihe! ♥

This collection from Haruki Murakami was on my TBR explode list for March, and I only meant to flip through it. But after reading "The Year of Spaghetti," he pulled me in. Other favorites include "Birthday Girl," "Crabs," and "Chance Traveler."

(I think I've finally made it past the Murakami glut in my TBR pile chronologically, at least for a while.)

Read more Reviews at Reviewing Shelf.

Murakami. *Sigh* Here we go. After two full length novels and two short story books, I am beginning to get Murakami. No no, don't get me wrong. No one can 'get' Murakami (not me, at least). I have even come to doubt if Murakami gets Murakami! What I mean is that I have made my peace with him. So while Kafka on the shore had me pulling my hair (read more about that here) and wanting to hunt Murakami down (which I tried to unsuccessfully, on my trip to Japan), Colorless Tsukuru had me heaving a sigh of relief. Men without women had me rooting for Murakami (more on that here) and recommending the book to each and everyone I knew.

What did Blind Willow and Sleeping Woman do? It made me urge all my bibliophile friends to drop whatever they were reading and begin this with me because I wanted to talk! Which is what you want to do when you are reading a Murakami. It feels better to have some company while hitting your head on the wall. And my precious friends did give me company. Not one, not two but four friends decided to give me company. With one story a day each. 2 stories later, one dropped out. 3 stories later, another one dropped out. 4 stories later, the last two dropped out. *Sigh* It was good while it lasted. We had all these different interpretations going on. It was fun!

But I didn't give up. That has to be something, right? I persisted. And not with a push or force. It was natural, I wanted to. I decided to take it slow and continue reading one story a day. Giving it time to find its way through the mazes of my mind, set its rhythm with my breath, and settle in somewhere deep within the recesses of my heart. Murakami weaves a net and you fall in, struggling in the beginning but the more you struggle, the more you are tangled up and then eventually you give up, you surrender. And it is then that it hits you. How good it feels not to have to struggle. Just to let go. To be. To savor the breeze in your hair, to let the world pass you by. And you're there, entangled but content.

I have come to realize interpretation isn't everything (grapes are sour, eh? ;) ). Sometimes the story and the writing needs to be savored and inhaled not inspected and analyzed. Murakami is one such author. He pulls you in and doesn't let you go. No matter if you don't understand what just happened.

Life happened.

You should read it. Don't fall into the 'interpretation' trap though and you'll be just fine.

I have read good reviews about this book, but I just couldn’t relate to them. The book picked up towards the end, with really nice stories…But one has to live through “waste of time” pieces throughout the book (mostly for the first three quarters) before one is treated to the nice ones (what is glory without suffering?)

Since this is a collection of short stories, I've decided to rate it by story, and then take the average. Average rating overall is 2.54, which technically translates to 3 stars (if I am to be strict about rules on rounding off whole numbers). However, based on my overall impression and personal thoughts about the book, plus the following statistics, I am more inclined to give this book just 2 stars: Number of stories rated as 1 star- 6; 2 stars-7; 3 stars-4; 4 stars -6; 5 stars-1. And 2 stars it is! It was just really ok. I don’t like it overall, so definitely not 3 stars.

1st story: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman - My rating: 1 star

A story about a young man who was living and working in Tokyo, until his grandmother died and he had to go back to his hometown. There he took to accompanying his deaf cousin on his visit to a new hospital. Along the way, he noted the bus they took were full of senior people, had a sort of deja-vu in the hospital cafeteria about a friend and his friend's girlfriend, whom he had also visited in a different hospital many years ago. Though very loose, there was sort of an intertwining of the present with this episode in his past; with a recollection of the girlfriend's story about the blind willow nad sleeping woman. The story ended with him and his cousin boarding the bus back home from the hospital.

Call me dim-witted, but I don't get it. What's the significance of the story? What's the point of the comparison of the past and the present - is it a lamentation on his part that he's not really moved on, always keeping people company in hospitals? What's the significance of the story about the blind willow and sleeping woman - is it still all about not being able to move on, sleeping until one is eaten away? If the intent was to leave the answers to the reader's imagination, there's nothing much of a story to start with actually. It would have been nice if there was some solid foundation for the readers to bank on. Again, I don't get it!

2nd Story: Birthday Girl – My rating: 4 stars

The story of a girl who had to work on her 20th birthday, but had a chance to make one wish, and have it come true. What she wished for, it was never mentioned, but at the present time, she is living a happy and contented life. This story is a great lesson about how one creates his/her own circumstance in life – as quoted from the story, “No matter what they wish for, no matter how far they go, people can never be anything but themselves.”

3rd Story: New York Mining Disaster – My rating; 1 star

Again, what’s the point??? The title surfaced in the story only in the “epilogue”, but then it had nothing to do with the whole story itself. Unless the narrator is one of the miners that were trapped? But there was no indication to this effect. Loosely, the story is about a 28-year old man who’s had five friends who have died one after the other – no one from the mine though, unless the string of deaths is supposed to be likened to the string of death in a mining disaster. He had to borrow a suit to wear to the funerals from another friend who fancies going to the zoo when there’s a typhoon. Towards the end of the story, he met a woman in a new year’s eve party who claimed that five years ago, she killed somebody who looks so much like him. That’s it! Another story a dim-witted like me could not fathom!

4th Story – Airplane – My rating: 2 stars

A just-so conversation between a married woman and her lover centering on the man’s talking to himself (like poetry). He is not aware that he talks to himself any more than the fact that he talks about airplanes. Throughout the story, the man ponders the characteristics of the woman, specifically that she cries a lot and for a long time, and that after she cries, she would initiate their lovemaking. He also ponders whether he’s in love with her, and her with him. I’m giving this 2 stars because it is but rational for two lovers to talk about just anything, but as to where the conversation would lead to – that’s what’s lacking in the story, I believe.

5th Story – Mirror – My rating: 3 stars

Another story in this collection that has sense and purpose. As I quote from the story, is it really true that “the most frightening thing in the world is our own self”? I tend to agree with this. It’s like saying there is no greater motivator than one’s self. Once a person has overcome his/her fears, then he/she can overcome anything.

6th Story – A Folklore for my Generation – My rating: 3 stars

The story is related in the first person and I have assumed Murakami to be the narrator, having referred to himself as an author/novelist. He talks about the 60s, and tells the story of a high school classmate and his girlfriend. The values prevalent during the 60s, especially those referring to sex and virginity were discussed at the start, and this is a good kick-off point for what the main story was all about. Even if Murakami maintains that there are “no lessons to be learned from this” story, I still gleamed some – staying true to ones values and beliefs, and keeping promises.

7th Story – Hunting Knife – My rating: 2 stars

I am giving this 2 stars because the story was able to sustain itself until the topic of the knife came. How ironic, the title being ‘Hunting knife’, yet it was the knife itself that was the downfall of the story. This is about a man spending a holiday in a beach resort with his wife. They regularly see a mother and son pair with whom they have developed a nodding acquaintance, until one night just before dawn when the man went out of their cottage and he chanced upon the ‘son’. Mostly, the ‘son’ talked about his life, his being confined in a wheelchair, his relatives who own the resort. The story was good up to this point, then came the knife. I don’t want to dwell on how the knife (the title even) ruined everything; you have to go read it for yourself – you might be able to glimpse some meaning from it which I did not get myself.

8th Story – A Perfect Day for Kangaroos – My rating: 1 star

A story about two friends who went to the zoo. About a month ago, they read from the newspaper that a baby kangaroo was born. The girl wanted to see the baby kangaroo in its monther’s pouch. At first, she was disappointed because she thought that they should have gone earlier to visit because now, a month after, the baby kangaroo looks a little big to go inside the pouch. They resigned to eating at the concession stand, and while there, the baby kangaroo hopped into the pouch, so naturally the girl was very happy. That’s it!

9th Story – Dabchick – My rating: 1 star

One probably has to be Japanese to understand this. It’s the story of a man starting on a new job, a rather mysterious job – he had to go through dark passageways to get to the workplace. He needs a password to enter the workplace, a password he has no idea about. With the help from the ‘doorman’, he was able to guess the password – dabchick. Turns out the boss was a ‘dabchick’. How can a bird be the boss? Is he cursed? I guess that’s left for the readers to imagine.

10th Story – Man-Eating Cats – My rating: 2 stars

Again, I am lost in translation. If there’s one thing consistent about these stories, it’s that they all have a nice build up, but the end always leaves me wondering if there was anything I missed, or does it really just go downhill always. This story is all about two lovers who fled to Greece after both their spouses found out about their affair. In my opinion, the man is not able to shake off the guilt of his unfaithfulness, and that’s the reason why he gets clammy, imagining a host of bad things happening to him. That is actually the only justification I can give for the 2 stars. 

11th Story – A Poor Aunt’s Story – My rating: 2 stars

The poor aunt as I understood it is a burden slumped on the author’s back. The weird thing is people see a physical being slumped on his back – or probably it’s all symbolic? While the poor aunt is slumped on his back, people shy away from him – which is just natural – people who are problematic all the time are not good company. Maybe I got the meaning of this story right…Probably Murakami is just weird in a way that he won’t give you the benefit of full understanding by injecting weird characters in his stories.

12th Story – Nausea 1979 – My rating: 3 stars

A story about a man who had vomiting spells for 40 days. The vomiting was accompanied by phone calls wherein the caller just mentioned his name and hung up. As sudden as it started, the vomiting and the phone calls also suddenly stopped. As to why this happened, the narrator (Murakami) can only speculate, no real conclusions arrived at. Just for the structure and because it kept me guessing, I’m giving it 3 stars.

13th Story – The Seventh Man – My rating: 4 stars

So far, this is only the second complete story I’ve read in this collection. My favorite quote: “…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, but I don’t believe that….Oh, the fear is there, all right. It comes to us in many different forms, at different times, and overwhelms us. But the most frightening thing we can do at such times is to turn our backs on it, to close our eyes. For the we take the most precious thing inside us and surrender it to something else.”

14th Story – The Year of Spaghetti – My rating: 1 star

In 1971, the narrator cooked spaghetti every day of the year, and ate the dish alone. Towards the end of the year, he got a phone call from a friend’s ex-girlfriend asking him about his friend’s whereabouts. He dismissed this phone call, giving the excuse that he’s cooking spaghetti. I think the story wants to highlight the narrator’s lonesome life that year, and the focus on the spaghetti was to stress the fact that it was his only constant companion. It was good that this story was very short… just the same the topic of the spaghetti was dragged on through the end, that it was really painful to read.

15th Story – Tony Takitani – My rating: 2 stars

Again, the signature style: a good build-up, but a so-so ending. The whole story transcends two generations – father and son, both loners, both good at their craft, living their lives almost independent of each other, thriving in their lonesomeness. The son finds love eventually only to be taken away from him in a tragic accident. After he has disposed of all of his wife’s possessions, and later on of his father’s record collections, he becomes truly alone. To some, that story would have been enough, but not for me…I always have the question, “so what now”? I wonder if Murakami would like the readers to finish the story for him?

16th Story – The Rise and Fall of Sharpie Cakes – My rating: 1 star

Lost in translation again! I was actually at a loss whether to give this 1 or 2 stars. I was looking for one significant thing I can find in the story, but I could not find any, so I don’t think I can justify it if I give the 2 stars, so there.

17th Story – The Ice Man – My rating: 3 stars

A love story between a normal woman and an ice man. They were practically living all by themselves as the woman’s friends and relatives have disowned her when she “married” the ice man; and the ice man have no known relatives or friends. Out of boredom, the woman asked the man that they travel to the South Pole. What happened in the South Pole is for you to find out.

18th Story – Crabs – My rating: 2 stars

If I am only to rate this according to structure, it would get a couple more stars, but a story isn’t just all structure. The story is about a couple vacationing in Singapore. They discovered a nice little restaurant serving good crab dishes. They ate crabs for all the remaining nights that they were in the city. On their 4th and final night while they were sleeping, the man woke up and threw up all the crab he ate over the last few days, until nothing is left. This episode changed everything for him in ways I believe only Murakami can imagine. He has great imagination, yes, and it often borders on absurdity, and I guess I can only take so much.

19th Story – Firefly – My rating: 4 stars

One of the best…. I was reading it over lunch break and I was nodding off in some parts, but I didn’t get lost (amazingly!) It talks about young love, love lost, letting go. I like the metaphor on the firefly. I don’t want to spoil it by rambling on the story as I noticed I’ve done in most of the previous paragraphs, so just read it for yourself.

20th Story – Chance Traveler – My rating: 5 stars

Best story for me. Why are all the nice stories in this collection lumped towards the end? I love that this really happened based on Murakami’s personal experience and that of his friend. The story talks about coincidences, chances, probabilities. Some are funny, others are sad. Whatever they may be, it is really amazing how they weave into our lives.

21st Story – Hanalei Bay – My rating: 4 stars

A story about moving on and letting go. The worst thing that could happen to a parent is to bury his/her own child (as what Mrs. Kennedy said). This is the story of such a mother, who started an annual tradition of visiting the place where her son died. There she met a couple of Japanese hitchhikers who sort of look up to her because of all the help she has extended. As I see it , their relationship, albeit short, is something of a redemption of the “failed’ relationship she had with her son. In the end, while letting the memory of her son linger, I believe she is able to move on.

22nd Story – Where I’m Likely To Find It – My Rating: 2 stars

I don’t see the significance of the investigator/seeker in this story. He didn’t really do anything but loiter the stairs! His specialty on finding things was not so much explained; it would have been better if some examples of previous successful cases were given, since he was not able to solve his current case.

23rd Story – The Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day – My Rating: 4 stars

One of the best in this collection. Some things just cannot be explained, and they are best left as they are, accepted for what they’re worth. Throughout our lives, we will meet people who will affect us in different ways, just as we too will have an effect on other people. This story talks about the actions that people choose to take (or not to take) because of things that happen in their lives. Deep meanings and ramblings…sort of surprising in a story that’s actually so light and a breeze to read.

24th Story – A Shinagawa Monkey – My Rating: 4 stars

A serious story with a funny and weird twist. One of the more important characters in the story is a monkey, who in every way is like a human being (he can talk and reason), except that he steals people’s names. The person whose name he stole would have episodes of forgetting their own names, until the name is given back or returned (by the monkey). Really weird, and I think it is for this reason that the author chose this character to be a monkey rather than human. Again, I won’t spoil it by giving more details here. If you would, take my word for it that this story is a good one, so go ahead and read it.

He's such an weird writer !
I'm sooo in love with Murakami <3

Merged review:

Honestly saying, I did not like it. I could not !
Trust me, I'm a huge Murakami-head ! But I think, he's not much of a story person!
Murakami is all about the journey, not any extraordinary events but some weird-head characters & their thinking makes his book beautiful !
In short stories, it's kinda hard to get all that vibe. Except for the story 'The Ice Man '

Happy reading, though !
:)

n  „Каквото и да си пожелават, колкото и далеч да отидат, хората никога няма да бъдат нещо друго освен самите себе си.“n

Когато ви си се прииска да избягате в друг свят или да се скриете в сън, чрез книгите на Мураками сте на една корица разстояние от тази възможност. Всеки път историите му ме отвеждат в някаква паралелна реалност, а веднъж попаднал там, не ти се иска да се връщаш…

Великолепен сборник с разкази, четох като хипнотизирана през цялото време. Толкова различни, странни, напоени с въображение, с усещане за тъга, тиха самота и непредсказуема развръзка. За мен Мураками е просто гениален в това, което прави. Създава поглъщащи истории, които те завладяват изцяло - като да попаднеш в лабиринт от необикновени случвания, сред сюжети, герои, метафори и изящен стил, които омагьосват.

Самият японски автор споделя, че докато писането на романи за него е по-скоро предизвикателство, то писането на разкази му носи истинско удоволствие (дори го сравнява с джаз импровизация, която не знаеш къде ще те отведе). Може да ги създаде от почти всичко около него, дори да е нещо незначително – идея, дума, образ, а една от историите в сборника е вдъхновена от сън на съпругата му, има и такива, възникнали следствие на появили се негови интереси и увлечения. В едно свое интервю Мураками отбелязва, че като се замисли, е имал най-различни странни преживявания в живота си и усеща, че именно тяхната странност им дава смисъл. Той няма за цел да анализира логически този вид странности, допълвайки, че: „Ролята на художествената литература не е да анализира. Единственото нещо, което мога да направя, е да превърна тези преживявания, възможно най-реалистично, във фикция.“

Всеки разказ е като някакъв пъзел, който трябва да наредиш в съзнанието си докато четеш, като загадка с безброй възможности за решение и вероятно за всеки четящ смисълът ще е различен.

Цитати:

„онова, което е видимо за всеки, не е много важно.“

„Релсите, по които не минава влак, притежават тайнствено мълчание.“

„Самотата отново го заляла като възтопъл бульон от мрак.“

“Не съм сигурен, че мога да определя разликата между това да си се вторачил в нищото и това да си умислен. “

„Понякога не се нуждаем от думи… По-скоро думите се нуждаят от нас. Ако нас ни няма, думите ще изгубят предназначението си. Не сте ли съгласен? Ще останат само думи, които така и не сме изговорили, а неизречените думи вече не са думи.“

"Your work should be an act of love, not a marriage of convenience.

n  Synopsis:n
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is a collection of twenty-four, some short, some – a little – long stories.
The stories are as follows:
1.tBlind Willow, Sleeping Woman (translated by Philip Gabriel)
2.tBirthday Girl (translated by Jay Rubin)
3.tNew York Mining Disaster (translated by Philip Gabriel)
4.tAirplane" Or, How He Talked to Himself as If Reciting Poetry (translated by Jay Rubin)
5.tThe Mirror (translated by Philip Gabriel)
6.tA Folklore for My Generation: A Pre-History of Late Stage Capitalism (translated by Philip Gabriel)
7.tHunting Knife (translated by Philip Gabriel)
8.tA Perfect Day for Kangaroos (translated by Philip Gabriel)
9.tDabchick (translated by Jay Rubin)
10.tMan-Eating Cats (translated by Philip Gabriel)
11.tA "Poor Aunt" Story (translated by Jay Rubin)
12.tNausea (translated by Jay Rubin)
13.tThe Seventh Man (translated by Jay Rubin)
14.tThe Year of Spaghetti (translated by Philip Gabriel)
15.tTony Takitani (translated by Jay Rubin)
16.tThe Rise and Fall of Sharpie Cakes (translated by Jay Rubin)
17.tThe Ice Man (translated by Philip Gabriel)
18.tCrabs (translated by Philip Gabriel)
19.tFirefly (translated by Philip Gabriel)
20.tChance Traveler (translated by Philip Gabriel)
21.tHanalei Bay (translated by Jay Rubin)
22.tWhere I'm Likely to Find It (translated by Philip Gabriel)
23.tThe Kidney-Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day (translated by Jay Rubin)
24.tA Shinagawa Monkey (translated by Philip Gabriel)

n  Review:n

If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden.

The Introduction itself captivated me, as Murakami delved into the 'behind-the-scenes' of his journey of writing both novels and short stories.

You can create a short story out of the smallest details – it's like jazz improvisation, with the story taking me where it wants to.

And then I dove into the first story, title the same as that of the collection. When I started reading the book – my first read of Murakami's works – all I could say was, okay, it's a bit strange, a little mystic, bordering on absurdity, and much more.

Now, let me come to the 'much more' part. As the first story came to an end, I was like "What the hell did I just read?" A narration which shows the delicacy of human relations and the goings-on of everyday life. Reading Murakami's works is not an exercise in reading, but an experience, and a damn good one! Have you heard of an earlobe compared with a freshly-baked goodie? Well, it does get whacky sometimes.

No matter how far they go, people can never be anything but themselves.

The characters and characterisations can be weird. And some of the nameless, faceless characters can get to you, with their profound ordinariness. There is a reality of life and death, a sense of both loneliness and aloofness.

Cats and dogs are your run-of-the-mill type animals. Nobody's going to pay money to see them. Just look around you – they're everywhere. Same thing with people.

My favourite story out of the twenty-four is 'Where I'm Likely to Find It'. I could connect to it the most. Maybe because I am also searching for something.

Like mist in the breeze, his memories changed shape, and with each change they grew fainter.

Some books do that to you, as if a phenomenal, an elemental change has occurred, a change of such magnitude which you're not able to put into words. The writing has meaning, a meaning you have to find out for yourself. It can have many different interpretations.

My stories are like soft shadows I've set out in the world, faint footprints I've left behind.

I read this book for Delhi Fam Book Club's (https://www.instagram.com/delhifamboo...) January Book of the Month in which we had to pick any book by Murakami (what with January being his birth month). This was the only book available in the library and it was a great introduction to his writing for me.

Originally posted on:
https://sassyshaina.wordpress.com/201...

Докъм средата чувството ми към книгата можеше да се изрази с: "В лошо време попадна ти при мен". После обстановката се разведри - имам предвид, че наистина харесах една част от разказите. Другата част бяха направени така, че да звучат дълбокомислено, но нищо да не казват - или поне не проговориха на мен, бяха ми само страници с празни думи. Да кажем, че за тях съм била тъпа или нещо такова. Като цяло смятам, че романите на Мураками би трябвало да ми харесват повече.

I love short stories and I enjoyed Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart, so I decided to try this collection.

Reading these stories was like listening to a stoned student at some cheap beer joint which is usually full of such individuals. As you might or might not know, they're usually full of bullshit. Same can be said for most of these stories. They're just agonizingly dull. With each next one, I grew more and more bored. They're all just a flash of idea, a half-bred plot or character; there's little to bite your teeth into. The plot usually moves in the most absurd direction and suddenly ends, without making a point or leaving any lasting impression.

I did enjoy one story, "The Mirror", which was about a school janitor who found a mirror in the basement. When he looked into it, he saw that his reflection was alive and independet. This is a great idea, but like all others in this volume it just ends, and leaves the reader with nothing. The mix of the real world and the supernatural is done without much sense; it's all art for art's sake. You can read these, but there's a big chance you might get little - if anything - from your reading.

I didn't hate this book, it just did absolutely nothing for me.