Book Review: Birthday Stories

Birthday stories is an anthology of stories written on the theme of birthdays. Most stories are snippets from a single day or at most a few days. The short stories, I am ashamed to admit, are mostly by writers I have never read before. Murakami is the only familiar name and my joy knew no bounds on receiving this as a birthday gift. I thus owe it to my friend as well as to Murakami to introducing me to a world of good writing.
The stories are all unique from each other despite the common thread of Birthday in it. Like Murakami writes in the introduction, it is surprising that so many of the stories on the theme of birthday are so dark. It is this darkness that makes them more real, more engaging. My favourite is Murakami’s own. It is as regular as it can be. A birthday that is uneventful, something that everyone experiences at some point or the other in life. And yet, something makes it special. A story from which you can take away from it what you choose. The real beauty of reading is making the story your own. A thoroughly enjoyable read.