Disclaimer: This whole piece is not meant to be an academic dissection of literature, it is quite simply, quite literally “thoughts of an idle reader”. Do not expect anything more than random epiphanies and sudden ramblings.
Recently, I have been religiously reading Haruki Murakami’s works to the point where I feel that I am gradually understanding Murakami’s writing and his narratives. The superficial similarities across his books, such as the strange obsession with female ears and lips, characters with tendencies to ignore the ringing phone, uncommunicative people with zero social sensitivity, all are tell-tale signs of the writer’s own personality.
After an over-consumption of Murakami’s works in a short span of time, I feel that it is always easier to start on his longer novels as compared to his short stories because it is more understandable in terms of plot progression. (I might add that Norwegian Wood was perhaps not the best place for me to start. On hindsight perhaps Wind-Up Bird chronicle would be an easier introduction).
Personally, I feel that Murakami’s short stories captures his fleeting ideas better. They never really elaborate for the reader’s sake, which feels like a snapshot of an individual’s life in a particular point in time. Bonus points because they feel like the scenes, in motion and unlike a still life. They are written almost like they were directions for a movie or for viewing through a camera lens, which really makes particular scenes very vivid in our memory.
I can really appreciate why he has such a cult reading because of how different his books are. When the audience is so accustomed to the atmosphere and conventions of English literature, there really isn’t a better way to describe it as “different”. His writing is living in the moment. Unlike novels that require readers to pay attention and retain information of what has earlier transpired in the book, Murakami’s books forgives you for forgetting about everything that has passed. Perhaps this is the case as it is the only few jap books to come out translated (we have no idea if the particular characteristic in the book is uniquely japanese).
His narratives are always very plot driven when anything that can happen will happen because, why not. His plot can mould into each other, sometimes it feels like he is writing one connected novella. Or it could be seen as indistinct characters and plots, in the sense that his characters are always different but they are fundamentally the same. They are branded with something that proves that they belong to the same writer, to the same universe.
The irony is that despite the vague similarities between the characters, consistency is not Murakami’s forte when it comes to his character’s internal personality. His characters develop idiosyncrasies at different points in the book, almost as though he conceptualized a random character halfway through and just mashed it into the preexisting one (quite understandable really, because his characters are so irresistibly quirky it feels like a waste to not bring them into the world).
All in all I really enjoyed reading Murakami’s writing. I don’t dare use the term books because some books felt like a stale swamp, reusing old ideas and circling around nothing (it feels like watching a tiger stalk something that does not exist and confusion turns to boredom because the promised kill never comes, you know what I mean?) My final thought on him is this: Murakami is great for a refreshing read, ideally I imagine reading his books while on vacation in a warm and poorly lit hotel room.
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