56 pages • 1 hour read
Haruki MurakamiA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
“The Wind-Up Bird and Tuesday’s Women”
“The Second Bakery Attack”
“The Kangaroo Communiqué”
“On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning”
“Sleep”
“The Fall of the Roman Empire, the 1881 Indian Uprising, Hitler’s Invasion of Poland, and the Realm of Raging Winds”
“Lederhosen”
“Barn Burning”
“The Little Green Monster”
“Family Affair”
“A Window”
“TV People”
“A Slow Boat to China”
“The Dancing Dwarf”
“The Last Lawn of the Afternoon”
“The Silence”
“The Elephant Vanishes”
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
The narrator, a product-control clerk at a department store, explains that he was watching kangaroos at the zoo when he was reminded of a letter of complaint he received at his job. In the letter, a woman complained that she had bought a Mahler record by mistake when she actually intended to buy Brahms. The man was so intrigued—and even sexually aroused—by this letter that he has decided to make personal contact with the woman. He writes her a letter that he calls “The Kangaroo Communiqué.” In the letter—which is actually a voice recording—the man introduces himself and explains his job, admits he would like to sleep with the woman, and reveals that he wishes he could be “in two places at once” (64). The letter is punctuated by the man’s reflections on kangaroos.
As in most of the stories in the collection, animals are a central motif in “The Kangaroo Communiqué.” Murakami structures the story in the form of a letter (the titular communiqué) written by the narrator, who draws a connection between watching four kangaroos at his local zoo and the woman who filed a complaint with his company about her purchase.
By Haruki Murakami
1Q84
1Q84
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After Dark
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