I enjoyed this story a lot, not so much because of its plot, but rather just the way it was told, I was engaged from start to finish. A couple had recently got married and both awoke in the middle of the night with severe hunger pangs. They had hardly anything to eat in the house because they had just moved in. It reminded the husband of the time he robbed a bakery as a kid because he was so hungry. The robbery didn’t turn out so well because the owner of the bakery told them they could have as much bread as they wanted as long as they sat through one of his classical music albums. Putting their knives away, they awkwardly sat through some music and then took as much bread as they could carry. This was kind if bizarre for them because they had expected to steal it, but instead they had simply earned it. He’s felt weird about it ever since and randomly gets these hunger pangs in the middle of the night, it’s just that now it’s also affecting his wife. He told his wife this story and she realized right away that the only way they could fix this situation was to go rob another bakery, but properly this time. They drove around with ski masks on and a shotgun in the back of the car but couldn’t for the life of them find a bakery that was open at 3am. They settled for a McDonalds. They stuck up the place, and made the workers make them 20 Big Macs. Instead of stealing the Big Macs, they paid for everything except the bread, this way they actually stole the bread thus reversing the “curse” the husband was experiencing from his first failed bakera ttack. Ultimately, the hunger pangs and “curse” went away and the lived “happily ever after”.

Like I said, I liked this story a lot but it certainly wasn’t for the plot. I found it to be unexpectedly exciting. I definitely expected the wife to be largely unimpressed with his story of holding up a bakery. Instead, she offered to do a second robbery with him. He was certainly surprised as well. She seemed to be a pro at it too. The fact she had ski masks, a shotgun, and obvious experience in dealing with hostages wasn’t explained at all, it just sort of happened. The story was almost as if they were a version of Bonnie and Clyde who had got married, found decent jobs and moved to the suburbs instead of robbing people for a living.

About the Author Haruki Murakami: Haruki Murakami (村上 春樹 Murakami Haruki, born January 12, 1949) is a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and the Jerusalem Prize, among others. Murakami’s fiction, often criticized by Japan’s literary establishment, is humorous and surreal, focusing on themes of alienation and loneliness. He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature. The Guardian praised Murakami as “among the world’s greatest living novelists” for his works and achievements. (Courtesy of Wikipedia.org)

To see more of the books I’ve read and reviewed, check out my virtual bookshelf from Shelfari.com: