It's 11:40 p.m. on the sixth year of the anniversary of my mom's death and I'm drinking a beer with the windows open listening to The Beatles. My wife is asleep in the other room and I just finished this book.
Every time I start a sentence I delete it and start over. I don't know how to write about this book. To those familiar with Murakami there is a lot you'll recognize. But in other ways this is unlike any of his other books I've read. It is more "straight forward", if you will...And yet, still somehow perplexing, ethereal, and elusive. But most of all, it is heart-breaking.
Everyone can relate to this book.
To say this book is about life and death would be a cliche disservice. First and foremost it is a love story. Whatever knee-jerk reaction you might have to that is off.
The film could not possibly do it justice.
Our story takes place in Japan during the 1960s. It is a strange time in the country's history: Imperial Japan, with its aspirations to rule over Asia, is gone. The Korean War is a memory. It's an optimistic time of what the future might be. Society is opening up. Campus life buzzes with the ideas of Marx and hypocrites denouncing Capitalism one day go on to work for Mitsubishi after graduation. It's a coming of age story for our protagonist, Toru, who falls in love with a deeply troubled girl who finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable and goes to live in a sanatorium after her boyfriend (and Toru's friend) commits suicide.
This story plunges into the depths of the human mind, heart, and soul in a way I don't think I've really encountered before. If Moby Dick is infinitely and externally vast in its scope and ambition then this novel is its internal equivalent. That is really the highest praise I can give. Both are dealing with a lot of the same things but on opposite sides of the coin.
This is a novel that sneaks up on you. It lulls you in gently and at a leisurely pace. I admit that in the beginning I wasn't sold. Early on I was bored -- more so because I was expecting typical Murakami, with his borderline magic realism, heavy symbolism, and open-to-interpretation narrative. I wasn't being fair. But like a glass of wine or a baseball game you have to settle in and pace yourself and enjoy the activity for what it is. And suddenly, before you know it, you're hooked. Soon I found myself wandering the streets of Tokyo with Toru, invested.
Do yourself a favor and pick up this book. And when you read it read it without distraction and without thinking about all of the other things you have to do. Read ten pages at a time or whatever you can spare, but be present with it and then return again when you can. I promise that the journey is worth taking.