Synopsis (Credit: www.amazon.co.uk)

Here are animated crows, a criminal monkey, an ice man, as well as the dreams that shape us and the things we wish for. Whether during a chance reunion in Italy, a romantic exile in Greece, a holiday in Hawaii or in the grip of everyday life, Murakami's characters confront loss, or sexuality, or the glow of a firefly, or the impossible distance between those who ought to be closest of all.

(Bought second-hand at Book Wise Exchange, High Street, Bellville.)

I like Murakami's writing. One can always depend on him to come up with something unexpected. His writing is good, yet, for me, often in the "more than 7 but not quite 8" category.

This was my first encounter with his short stories and I enjoyed most of them. His stories go into a lot of detail and the reader finds it easy to be transported to the milieu of each sketch. Of course, in true short story tradition, don't think that the end of the story will be predictable. Some stories were better than others but, partly to compensate for one or two novels of his where the judgement call went to 7, this anthology gets an 8.