Murakami is, of course, the contemporary Japanese fiction writer who is best known and most widely translated in the Anglosphere. This is a collection of seven short stories dealing with aspects of human relationships, and readers familiar with his work will know what to expect.

Murakami usually writes in the first or indirect first person. This means the perspective is fixed and the reader gets a strong sense of the personality of the narrative voice – but because the perspective is fixed, much information is withheld, either because the narrator does not know it or because it is taken for granted. His stories often feature a mysterious woman with whom the main character has a relationship that seems full of potential but is nevertheless incomplete. By way of example, in this collection, ‘Drive My Car’ gives us the story of a character actor and his driver, an enigmatic young woman who comes to learn of the actor’s unfaithful wife and his friendship with her lover. ‘Yesterday’ is about a Tokyo boy who learns to speak in the Osaka dialect; ‘Scheherazade’ is about a relationship between a man who seems to be under some kind of detention and his carer or social worker whose duties apparently include sex and storytelling.

Inevitably, there will be something rather strange in the world described. The main character is always a bit odd but usually still likeable. It is indeed a tribute to Murakami’s skill as a writer that he can keep deploying these same elements to create fascinating stories. He is nothing if not reliable. If you are a Murakami fan, this is well worth a look and if you are not familiar with his work this would not be a bad starting point.

Reviewed by Grant Hansen