Κλασσικά αγαπημένος Murakami!

Haruki Murakami is a truly classic and beloved author. His works are filled with unique charm and profound themes.

Murakami's writing style is distinct, often combining elements of the real and the surreal. His stories take readers on extraordinary journeys, exploring the depths of human emotions, dreams, and the mysteries of life.

His novels are not only entertaining but also thought-provoking. They make us reflect on our own lives, our relationships, and the world around us.

Whether it's the magical realism of "Norwegian Wood" or the complex narratives of "1Q84," Murakami's works have a way of captivating readers and leaving a lasting impression.

He has a large and dedicated following around the world, and his books continue to be widely read and studied.

In conclusion, Murakami is a literary genius whose works will be cherished for generations to come.

I want to write stories from now on that are different from those I have written so far. I want to write about people who are acting and hoping to turn gray-haired to embrace those they love.

(From the story "Honey Sweetness")

A book consisting of four short stories with the titles "Yofu in Koshiro", "A Glance with a Hawk's Eye", "Saving the Rainbow Garden in Tokyo" and "Honey Sweetness".

I especially liked the stories more from the end to the beginning.

Although I had read the story "Honey Sweetness" quite well before, but this time I enjoyed reading it even more.

P.S. Finally, Murakami has taken a place in my heart.

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Mr. Let me tell you something funny. I had previously heard the sound of an aftershock, and I didn't know that after the earthquake, those aftershocks that I didn't hear with a translation and from another source and sound :))))

Last time, the story of "Abrqorbagh" didn't appeal to me. But now, its ending was a great achievement for me. I think the aftershock also had a censor and one of its stories had been deleted. I read the story of "Honey Sweet" for the third time and enjoyed it, and in my opinion, it was the best story in this collection. That's it.

I really like reading these kinds of stories. They not only entertain me but also make me think. Sometimes, I find myself completely immersed in the story, as if I am a part of it. It's a wonderful feeling.

Moreover, these stories often have hidden meanings and messages that can teach us valuable lessons about life, love, and friendship. I believe that by reading such stories, we can become more understanding and empathetic people.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend this collection of stories to anyone who loves reading and wants to have a great time. It's definitely worth checking out!

Put everything aside, and that frog aside too :)

Life is full of various distractions and things that seem to demand our attention. But sometimes, it's important to take a step back and just let go. We often get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of daily life that we forget to simply enjoy the moment. Whether it's work, responsibilities, or the countless other things that fill our days, we can easily become overwhelmed. By putting everything aside, even if it's just for a short while, we can give ourselves a chance to breathe and relax. And that little frog, well, it too can be a symbol of something that we might need to temporarily set aside. Maybe it represents a small annoyance or a task that can wait. So, let's all take a moment to put everything aside and just enjoy the peace and quiet :)

**Introduction to the Book**

The book titled "After the Quake" consists of six short stories with names like "The Thundering Silence", "Honey Pie", "Akira", "Thailand", "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo", and "Landscape with Flatiron". It is written by the creative, talented, famous, and beloved Japanese author Haruki Murakami. The book has been translated into English by Mr. J. Rubin, one of the translators that Murakami highly trusts and believes in.

**The Stories in the Book**

A powerful earthquake in 1995 shook the city of Kobe in Japan, leaving thousands dead and widespread devastation. In this book, there are six short stories, and in each of them, the lives of the characters have been significantly affected by this terrible event.

The first story, "The Thundering Silence", is about a middle-aged man named Komura who has a normal and ordinary life with his wife. One day, he comes home and realizes that his wife is not there. There is a note on the refrigerator that says, "I'm leaving and I'll never come back."

The second story, "Honey Pie", is about a forty-year-old man named Miako. His inner fear of death in the refrigerator, the incident of the auto that wasn't there, and his life...

The third story, "All God's Children Can Dance", is about a boy named Yoshiya who lives with his mother. According to his mother, he is the child of God! The mother has a relationship with her son, and one day at the train station, Yoshiya meets God (his father) and recognizes him by a mark he heard from his mother, that is, one of his ears is a lily that a dog has eaten...

The fourth story, "Thailand", is about a female doctor named Satsuki who has separated from her husband and travels to Thailand for a medical conference. She hopes that her husband, who lives in Kobe, has been killed in the earthquake. During this trip, she decides to take a one-week rest for herself after the conference and...

The fifth story, "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo", is about a forty-year-old man named Katagiri who is a manager in the facilities department of a bank. One day when he comes home, he sees a frog about 180 centimeters long waiting for him in his house and...

The sixth story, "Landscape with Flatiron", is about a love triangle between Junpei, Sayoko, and Takatsuki, along with a charming dog named Sala who closed the eyes of the two rabbits' eyes of the beautiful and happy life of anticipation and fell asleep in the arms of his mother...

**Recommendation**

For the third story of this book, that is, "All God's Children Can Dance", a film with the same name has been made based on this story. Watching it is not without charm for the fans of the beloved Murakami. This story is a very simple but profound one, but Murakami, like all his works, has put his very complex and profound story on paper in the simplest possible form. Even if there are questions or ambiguities for the reader in the book, it will be raised by watching this film.

If you are interested in watching the film, you can download and watch it in the next posts of this channel along with the Persian subtitle that I have made for it.

**Quotes**

"It doesn't matter how long a person's journey is, a person can never escape from himself."

"Being young is not easy."

"The smell of fire closed his eyes. He thought to himself, I could never live with this person. I could never penetrate his heart, but now I can die with him."

"If it is right for God to test man, why is it wrong for man to test God?"

"Living and dying are equally important. If you spend all your energy on living, you can no longer have a good death."

"The real fear is the one that a person feels in his mind."

"The ultimate value of our life is shown not by how we win but by how we lose."

"Everything we see with our eyes is not necessarily real!"

"Sometimes we humans want to throw everything away."

"As long as a person is alive, each of his body parts is different from the others, but when he dies, everything becomes one thing. Just skin and bones!"

"Finding a person who we love from the depths of our heart on the rough road of life is completely different from finding a worthless friend."

**Rating**

Like all the collections of short stories that I have read, first, I gave a separate rating to each story as follows: "The Thundering Silence" 4 stars, "Honey Pie" 5 stars, "All God's Children Can Dance" 5 stars, "Thailand" 3 stars, "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" 3 stars, "Landscape with Flatiron" 4 stars.

Then, from the total of 24 stars for 6 stories, I considered the average for the whole book, which is 4 stars.

**Download**

I have uploaded the EPUB file of the book in English, the film "All God's Children Can Dance" which is an adaptation of the third story of the book, and the Persian subtitle that I made because there was no Persian subtitle for this film on the Telegram channel. If you need, you can download them from the links below:

Link to the book file: https://t.me/reviewsbysoheil/224

Link to the film: https://t.me/reviewsbysoheil/225

Link to the Persian subtitle of the film: https://t.me/reviewsbysoheil/226

Tales combine fables, dreams, and realism.

They seem to be the way to understand, in part, overwhelming and irrational events like the January 1995 Kobe earthquake that devastated the city.

Each unique story in After the Quake restores broken human connections.

Even characters far from its epicenter were traumatized and had their lives psychologically disoriented by its televised images and the reminder of relations and friends at the site.

'UFO in Kushiro' connects a recently divorced man (due to the televised impact) and a single woman in Hokkaido.

'Landscape with Flatiron' involves two runaways, an older man who burns beach driftwood into a bonfire and a younger woman who has left home and now feels something for the first time from the gently burning bonfire.

In 'All God's Children Can Dance', a fatherless boy seeks his birth father (an obstetrician without a right earlobe) but finds his spiritual father in a desolate baseball field and his own ability to dance spontaneously with the rhythm of the universe.

'Thailand' is the setting where a thyroid specialist/pathologist on holiday after a conference relearns trust, risk, and forgiveness.

In 'Super-Frog Saves Tokyo', a hallucinatory loan collection agent helps the force of light (Super-Frog) battle with the force of darkness (giant wiggling Worm) at the epicenter in Tokyo to prevent an earthquake there.

After much trial and error in 'Honey Pie', friendships are reestablished - enterprising bears who find a way for equal give and take that starts a new business enterprise, and male/female friends of many years whose true feelings for each other went unexpressed until a child relates the message of The Earthquake Man.

This can be read as an introduction to Murakami before reading 1Q84.

Lengvučiai, bet gilūs apsakymai.

Although they are brief, the stories are profound.

Neblogai, bet labai didelio įspūdžio nepaliko.

They are not bad, but they didn't leave a very big impression.

Labiau patinka ilgesni autoriaus kūriniai.

I prefer the longer works of the author.

Perhaps it is because in the longer pieces, the author has more space to develop the plot, flesh out the characters, and explore the themes in greater depth.

The shorter stories, while interesting, sometimes feel a bit rushed or incomplete.

Nonetheless, even the shorter works have their own charm and can offer a quick and engaging read.

Overall, I look forward to reading more of the author's work, whether it be short or long.

In true Murakami style, the plot takes a backseat, serving more as a green screen for the characters to shine. It's like diving into what you assume is azure water, only to find it's not.

The surrealism that is the centrifugal force in his works like The Wind Up Bird Chronicle continues in this short story collection, each inspired by the seismic upheaval in Kobe. Each story delves into troubled waters and emerges with a sense of being wrapped up not so neatly, yet heartfelt.

What I find most appealing about ATQ is the smoke and mirrors subjects and fascinating characters. There's a giant frog plotting to eliminate an evil underground worm, or a bitter divorced lady ending up in an unknown woman's home who tells her she has a stone inside. These unbelievable situations, inspired by real events and written in a comic style with an underlying Dostoevsky vibe, are truly captivating. If you haven't read this, do you really need more incentive?

But don't be misled! It's not all fantasy. Smeared elegantly in the stories with an unpretentious tone is the underlying note of realism.

"Earthquakes make people realise how fragile the ordinary world is." This heart-wrenching plunge into the dark reality of the disaster and the sarin gas attacks that forced Murakami to uproot his life to a foreign land veers the narrative slightly into the dissection of the emotional state affected by these horrors. So, the stone inside the woman's body is not just a stone, and the subterranean worm is not just.

Weird, plain, fascinating, and Haruki Murakami at his best. It's a perfect introduction to classic Murakami or just a great read anytime!

This is a remarkable book that consists of 6 short stories.

The devastating Kobe earthquake of 1995 makes an appearance in all the stories, yet it is only in the periphery.

I have a deep affection for this book and have also gained a new appreciation for the short story genre. When executed well, it can be incredibly intense. You find yourself hanging on every word, as if the next sentence will reveal what you've been eagerly waiting to discover.

I listened to the audio version, and it was done extremely well. I understand that everyone consumes books differently, but if you've ever considered audio books, I believe a collection of short stories like this is where you might derive the most value. These stories seem to be meant to be told aloud.

Ordinarily, I would water the lawn or do some household chores while listening to books, but these stories were so captivating that I simply wanted to soak up every word. As a result, I switched to listening to them in a quiet and focused atmosphere.

None of the characters were directly impacted by the quake in the way one might expect, and often the mention of the quake was only made in subtle ways. I wasn't entirely clear about the message of the book. I frequently felt that I just didn't understand it. I only caught glimpses of a couple of themes that were interesting to contemplate.

One theme was "emptiness". Although it was never explicitly tied to the quake, many of the characters felt that their lives were empty and devoid of value. I think it's natural to experience such feelings after a senseless disaster that one has no power to prevent. Watching coverage of the disaster on the news was a recurring element in several stories, and I can imagine how that can exacerbate this emotion. In some cases, it seemed as though the characters already had underlying feelings of emptiness, and the quake brought them to the surface.

Another theme was fragility. Some of the characters appeared to be "broken" by the quake in complex and mysterious ways. These characters were already damaged, but had found a way to cope with some sort of metaphorical crutch or band-aid. However, the quake tore off the band-aid, leaving them "broken" in some manner.

Highly recommended. Even if you think this book isn't within your usual area of interest (it wasn't for me initially), you might still really enjoy it. And if you've ever been curious about Murakami but are understandably hesitant to delve into one of his novels (which tend to be quite long), reading a couple of these short stories might give you an idea of whether you'd like his work or not. In fact, I prefer his short stories much more than his novels, as his longer stories eventually do things that irritate me.

4 Richter scale asterisks. Perhaps it is one of the least complex books by Haruki Murakami that I have read, but it is equally of high quality. Just like the earthquake that forms the central theme on which he bases his stories, he also comes to "shake" the reader with a series of stories full of inner searches and with the human being and their different psyches at the center. Six different stories of people, each with their own issues, fight to change something in their lives and, in a way that only Haruki Murakami knows, they find the light.

My favorite story is that of Mr. Frog.

"The entire terrifying battle took place in the realm of fantasy." Because "That is precisely where the battlefield of our struggles lies. There we experience our victories and defeats." Of course, knowing full well, of course, that "Without exception, we are all beings of limited duration: ultimately, we will all be defeated."

This book offers a unique exploration of the human condition through Murakami's distinct storytelling style. The characters and their stories are both relatable and thought-provoking, making it a captivating read from start to finish.

Morakami wrote the book under the influence of the 1995 Kobe earthquake.

The book has a total of six short stories. Although the characters in it were not directly related to the earthquake, the earthquake had an influential impact on their lives and fates indirectly.

Among the six stories, I liked "Honey Pie" the most.

The 1995 Kobe earthquake was a significant event that had a profound impact on many aspects of life. Morakami, being a sensitive writer, was also influenced by this disaster. In his book, he presented six short stories that explored the various ways in which the earthquake affected people's lives. Even though the characters were not directly involved in the earthquake, the aftereffects could be seen in their relationships, emotions, and decisions. "Honey Pie" stood out for its unique charm and the way it depicted the human condition in the face of adversity. Through this story, Morakami was able to convey a powerful message about the importance of love, hope, and perseverance in difficult times.

The fifth book that I read by Murakami. It contains stories about the devastating Kobe earthquake and its impact on people's lives after that. The earthquake is like a kind of main character in all the stories, but it is clearly absent in the space of the stories. I liked almost all the stories.

The story "Honey Pie" really took me back to the Norwegian forest. What I liked the most was that the influence of Kafka on one of the stories was very obvious. Murakami and of course me!! We are both fans of Kafka, and I really liked how well he responded to this influence (not plagiarism). It was between July and August, and then I gave it a five-star rating and moved on :))