Starting this review by saying that Ralph McCarthy is the best translator. These collections contained such great emotional depth and truly made me feel for the characters, and without such a dutiful and impressive translator, that wouldn’t have happened.

I alternated between 4 and 5 stars, but ultimately, had to give this book a solid 5. I acknowledge my predisposition, I’ve read almost all of Murakami’s work available in English and savoured every single word. There are some spots where the book grew dull, and somewhat repetitive, but even those were enjoyable. Adding: his brand of satire is sublime and shining brightly here. 

Particularly, I found Ryu’s Cinematheque very dry and boring - until I started comparing the plot devices to what he had used in Run, Takahashi! and suddenly was just marvelling at how much he had grown and improved as a writer in that time period. While the latter is fast, fun, and digestible, Cinematheque felt decidedly slow. But the way he worked the unreliable narrator into the story, clearly something he would later employ in another novel on a much deeper level, was so enjoyable. When Swans rolled around, it was like he had fully polished the interconnectedness. If you’ve read From The Fatherland, With Love, you can see just how deeply he was fine tuning that skill.

Topaz is in a league of its own. No book has ever, and I mean ever, made me come closer to physically retching. I think I have a high threshold for gross and freaky (basically my whole personality) but that… was… horrible. I f***ing loved it. There’s no other author who can do that.

Overall: is this Ryu’s best work? No. Popular Hits From The Showa Era and Coin Locker Babies are my top 2 books of all time. Is this incredibly enjoyable and satisfying, as a reader and fan of his work? Yes, very much so. Am I going to watch the film Tokyo Decadency after reading this book? No, I think the mental imagery from this was more than enough.