#149 The Mirror- Haruki Murakami
Not every story in a collection can be a winner. This one
most certainly is not my favorite. It’s not on par with the quality that I’ve
come to hope for in a Murakami story.
A lot of Murakmai works deals with supernatural occurrences,
but in a more subtle, spiritual manner. This story talks about the occult
square-on, in a more literal form. The narrator is hosting some sort of
gathering and his guests have all shared stories about personal contact with
ghosts and unexplained phenomenon. His turn arise and he tells his ghost story.
Unfortunately for readers, the story reads exactly like a ghost story told
around a campfire. In other words, its campy, cliché, and predictable. I expect
a Murakami ghost story to be more inventive.
Notable Passage: “What I saw wasn’t a ghost. It was
simply—myself. I can never forget how terrified I was that night, and whenever
I remember it, this thought always springs to mind: that the most frightening
thing in the world is our own self?”
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