The Second Bakery Attack, By Haruki Murakami

 The Second Bakery Attack, By Haruki Murakami

Yuna Song

Rating: 8/10

‘The Second Bakery Attack’ has a fast development and intriguing story, which I thought was enough to arouse readers’ interest, including mine. Not only that but also the two scenarios: the underwater volcano scenario and the hunger scenario: developed in parallel with complementary explicit messages were also distinctive.

➤'The Second Bakery Attack'

Another appealing feature of this story was that it connoted various themes: the theme of old society versus modern society, the theme of old industry and craftsmen versus capitalism, the theme of marriage, the theme of passive man and the female muse, and also some magical elements. Different behavior of old baker and McDonald's employees definitely showed the contrast between old and modern society well, and McDonald's workers being afraid of messing the accounts up than the shotgun in front of themselves represented the power of capitalism suppressing people from deep consciousness. Moreover, Wagner’s music and cowboy music played on American Armed Forces radio also well symbolized the old-new contrast and perhaps implied the contrast between Germany and US which are both central countries affecting Japan for a long time.

Like this, I truly enjoyed discovering several themes and cultures of Japan through this story, which I gave 8 out of 10. (200 words)

On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning, By Haruki Murakami

On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning, By Haruki Murakami

Yuna Song

Rating: 6.5/10

This is the first story I read after finishing James Joyce. It was easier to understand the story itself, but it was still difficult to find the meaning hidden in it.

The first thing that was interesting about this story was the title. First, it is the expression '100%'. If you were to rate people around you as a percentage, could you? At least I would be very awkward expressing my relationship in numbers. In addition, the man in the story refers to an unknown girl as a "100%" perfect girl. It is very unusual to call somebody "100%" who even never shared a conversation. Second, the expression 'seeing'. We often use the word "meet" or "encounter" when we meet people, especially if the other person was the one of "100%" to me, not "see". As such, this story contained various peculiarities.

I also thought that the man meeting a 100% perfect girl might have been not a 'miracle', but rather a 'fantasy'. Not only has the girl's name never been mentioned, but the man seems to have never actually approached the girl. Nevertheless, referring to her as a 100% girl may have been just imagination from his deep loneliness. (200 words)