Murakami's South of the Border, West of Sun.

Fellow Book Readers,

If you have heard or read about Murakami and his book, then you might be familiar with this one. The book that I am going to talk about in this blog is South of the Border, West of the Sun by japanese author Haruki Murakami. 

The book revolves around the characters Hajime, a bar owner; Shimamoto, Hajime's childhood companion; and Yukiko, Hajime's wife.

The book takes us back into the life of Hajime, an only child growing up in post-war Japan. In his childhood, he befriends Shimamoto, a girl with a slight limp due to polio. They bond over music and their dreams. However, they soon lose touch as Shimamoto moves away from his neighborhood.

As the years pass, Hajime matures into an adult who's constantly on the lookout for something.

He settles down after a failed relationship and a lot of casual dating and marries Yukiko, a daughter of a wealthy family. She's a supportive and practical woman. With her father's help, Hajime starts and runs two successful jazz bars. Despite having what seems like a perfect and normal life, he feels empty and dissatisfied for some reason. Shimamoto mysteriously reappears in his life, now an enigmatic woman, bringing back old emotions and memories with her. Their reunion throws Hajime into a state of existential crisis. However, just as quickly as she reappeared, Shimamoto vanished just as fast, leaving Hajime to pick up the pieces of his life he shattered himself.

I found the book intriguing due to Shimamoto's mysterious presence. But I highly disliked Hajime's character as it was constantly selfish, focusing only on his wants and desires and not caring how his wife in the background would feel. I felt he idealised Shimamoto and constantly looked for women like her, to fill the void that was getting bigger and bigger as time passed. 

The novel's ending left many questions unanswered, which felt frustrating. I also felt that some of Hajime’s relationships, especially his marriage with Yukiko, deserved more depth and exploration. It was beautifully written but left me with mixed emotions.

Overall, it was a 8/10 for me.

Appreciate you all for reading this.

Thank you,

Yours Truly,
Aditi
(Read Poets Society)