The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle / specifically: After the Quake
Haruki Murakami · 2002
Murakami's story collection responding to the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Six interconnected stories in which the disaster creates ruptures in reality. More emotionally direct than his other work.
The case against
Six stories, and the Murakami kit is in most of them: drifting passive men, a wife who vanishes without explanation, portent in place of plot. The Kobe earthquake stays offstage, which is the concept, but it lets several pieces settle for mood where consequence belongs. 'Super-Frog Saves Tokyo' is either the best thing here or whimsy past the legal limit.
Short Stories · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
if this one calls to you, so will these →
