96 pages
English language
Published Dec. 1, 2022 by Knopf.
In a fantastical illustrated short novel, three people imprisoned in a nightmarish library plot their escape.
Orig: Fushigi na toshokan (Kodansha, 2005)
Art direction and design: Chip Kidd
Whoops! This is a short story. I thought it was a book.
I love Murakami's style, but it's an adult style. It doesn't fit so well for a simple fable told by a child.
This short fiction is exactly what I expected from Murakami; it's a surreal, weird, and engrossing read.
Murakami channeling Borges. In addition to being a great, weird story, the book design is incredible.
The shortest Murakami I have ever read.
Det er den klart mærkeligste af Haruki Murakamis bøger, jeg har læst, og det er ellers ikke fordi, ingen af de andre er mærkelige. Jeg har svært ved at finde mening med den her, og den fangede mig ikke rigtigt - i modsætning til mange andre af hans historier.
That was shorter and weirder than I was expecting...
For an exceptionally short tale about an underground, labyrinthine section of a city library, this tale was fun and engaging. Although I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the ending, I found the prose easy to consume and the story graspable, even for a younger reader. For an experimental short story, it was well crafted and unique. In many ways, it read like a Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale with a Japanese flair.
More, please!
