034 4 As with the other protagonist's of Haruki Murakami's novels , there is nothing outwardly extraordinary about Hajimi , the narrator of South of the Border , West of the Sun . He was born in 1951 during the first week of the first month of the first year of the second half of the twentieth century . Hajimi ( whose name means beginning ) is an ordinary , prototypical Japanese baby boomer . He grew up in a paradisaical postwar suburb and now , in mid-life , is the owner of a trendy Tokyo jazz club , drives a BMW and dotes on his two little girls . ( Hajimi is so ordinary , in fact , that , were it possible , he would have had only three-quarters of one child , the better to fit his country's demographics . )
While everything seems so right in Hajimi's world , it is , at times , so very wrong . As an only child he was something of an anomaly in both his own family and in his neighborhood . In the world I lived in , he says , it was an accepted idea that only children were spoiled by their parents , weak , and self-centered . This was a given - - like the fact that the barometer goes down the higher up you go and the fact that cows give milk .
Murakami fans will quickly recognize the social satire masked as self-deprecation and Murakami's deadpan tone of narration , something he employs even when describing the most surreal of events . South of the Border , West of Sun , however , is Murakami's most domestic and deeply moving novel , and it resonates with dense undercurrents throughout , although it has mistakenly been called accessible by those who have failed to understand its deeper implications . What is gone is the peripatetic pace of A Wild Sheep Chase , the private-eye swagger of Dance Dance Dance and the cultural and historical territory covered in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle .
Instead , we have an almost-simple tale of lost love and redemption . But not quite . Hajimi does not live his live as an outcast . He is rescued by the lovely Shimamoto , another only child with whom he forges a bond worthy of soulmates . Their relationship , however , like most relationships of adolescent origin , does not survive into adulthood and Hajimi eventually , well , gets on with life .
Shimamoto , surprisingly to Hajimi , at least , does make another appearance in Hajimi's life . With cinematic melodrama , Hajimi spots her one day , sitting on a bar stool in his club as the pianist plays Star Crossed Lovers . Hajimi's first thought is that fate has handed him a once-in-lifetime opportunity , an extraordinary chance . He can now consummate his long-lost love and rewrite his history .
Fate , though , often deals us a less-than-perfect hand . Hajimi is now happily married and Shimamoto , although troubled , wealthy and completely unpredictable , seems to be a woman without a past .
Murakami is a master at turning a state of consciousness into an inhabited world , blurring the boundaries of inner space and external reality . Although much of this metamorphosis is representative of contemporary Japanese culture , American readers , as well , find it familiar territory . Murakami makes extensive use of Western imports and global brand names , and his genius resides in the fact that he can see and write about the universal uniqueness that everyman possesses . In Murakami's hands , the ordinary is the only extraordinary .
Shimamoto , however , is a reckless and free spirit and not the type one usually looks to for spiritual completion and the mystery that surrounds her is a true mystery , much in the way that Freud's cigar was simply a cigar . Yet , the signature Murakami layered meanings remain ; they are just compressed into a resonant , emblematic whole rather than being exploded into bits of colored light filtered through a prism .
Hijimi , the consummate Japanese Yuppie is an easy target for Murakami . He is affluent , unfaithful in a sort of way ( I never slept with any one woman more than once or twice . Okay , three times tops . I never felt I was having an affair with a capital ' A ' . ) , and he indulges in a complacent routine of lap-swimming , child-chauffeuring and gourmet grocery shopping . And when this routine is threatened , we feel threatened as well .
Ironically , it is Hajimi's wife who provides the closure he is seeking but not in exactly the way he was thinking about . Yukkio's plump , serene domesticity contains a private hell he'd never suspected but one that provides the key to life in the earthly paradise of the here-and-now .
Those who think this book represents a lighter version of Murakami should read it again . . . or take a deeper look at their own lives . South of Border , West of the Sun may just be Haruki Murakami at his very best .
001 4 Ever since I first read Murakami starting with
Sputnik Sweetheart I am hooked on to everything he
writes . I do not know what he does to me but everytime
I read what he writes - its like a tidal wave lashing
over me and I cannot help it . I love the feeling . I
cherish it for a long long time . South o the Border
begins with a 37 - year old narrator Hajimme - the owner
of an upswanky jaz bar in Japan talking about his life
- from where it began to where it is .
A Japanese love story ; indeed , a Japanese Casablanca :
it doesn't sound too promising , does it ? But ignore
the blurb - they've got to get people to pick it up
after all - and dip a toe into the world of Haruki
Murakami . This is , perhaps , the perfect place to start
for newcomers - no wells ; no sheep ; no slightly
off-kilter worlds , just a simple , if morally complex
story exquisitely told . It's the prose stye ( insert
here a discourse on the art of translation , but the
voice is Murakami ) which will seduce you , not the
narrator - he is morally ambivalent , and not in a good
way . In the hands of such an accomplished writer ,
however , one is easily drawn in to Hajime's world .
Hajime would like to be a good man , but he has
impulses ; impulses which cause him to damage those he
loves . The simple tale revolves around his childhood
sweetheart finding him and endangering everything he's
worked for . So far , so predictable ; but the way in
which Murakami teases out Hajime's character , and
faces up to the moral dilemmas without judging his
motives - they are simply laid out for us to observe -
produces a true feeling of uncertainty in the reader ,
and compels you through the story wishing that both
outcomes were possible . A cunningly crafted tale ,
carried off with thoughtful aplomb , and the ideal
jumping-off point for further exploration of this most
intriguing of authors .
002 4 After the translated works of Birnbaum and Rubin , it is a revelation to see how someone else translate and interpret Murakami's work ( this does not mean that the writer of this review doesn't acknowledge the fantastic translations of both translators ) . No doubt , Philip Gabriel has done a fantastic job with his translation of this book .
This story is about a middle-age man who in his teenage years finds and then loses the girl , only to meet her again years later . During these years he has hurted a lot of people , including himself . Now , happily married , settled and being a succesfull businessman , it's time to set things straight . Or not ? When the woman he once loved ( and still loves ) enters his bar , things are beginning to change . Will he sacrifice everything for this woman , including his beloved wife and daugthers ?
Unlike Dance , Dance , Dance or The Wind Up , this story is more down to earth . Nobody is perfect . Even if you live a happy married life . Unconditionally love doesn't exist , even when you know who you're true love is . Questions always remain and people have to accept this fact . Again Murakami succeeds in letting the readers to think and reconsider again what life , love or marriage mean . The answers on these questions remain vague . But isn't that what is all about ?
003 4 This romantic novel left me stunned , staring at the ground , picking out patterns , wondering about the consequences of everything I have done in my life . Unlike Jay Gatsby , I've never thought you could repeat the past , but that hasn't kept me from dwelling on it , pondering the wake of destruction left by my own dreams . Reading this book I felt like Hajime was at times my Japanese twin , living an unaccountably successful and comfortable life haunted by obsessions more animated than reality itself . Sometimes I fall into a trance - a girl in the car next to me reminds me of an old love , a phrase overheard takes me to a place thirty years ago - and I can't really lift myself from it for several days . My wife asks what's wrong and there's no way to explain . It's like a dream that sticks to you all day long or a name that's on the tip of your tongue all weekend but you just can't remember it . That was the experience of South of the Border , West of the Moon , a surprisingly flat and simple story with perfectly chosen oddities and enough specificity to create an unforgettable world . You know the way some short stories are exquisite jewels perfectly set ? That's this book .
004 4 What I've come to realize in reading Murakami is that closure and completeness do not exist in his world , much like they don't in our own lives . South of the Border is on the surface a simple , male-perspective romance novel . But beyond that , and what makes this so much more than that , are the language and the warmth of the characters .
What could have ultimately failed as a book , because if we break it down to its core , there is very little complexity and really , the book is just an account of a wayward soul drifting through life and remarking on his own inequities . Where this novel excels is in its celebration of the moment .
The moments Hajime sits with Shimamoto and listens to records , the briefest of moments when she brushes against him , the moments he spends with his daughters . All these moments , described in such beautiful detail make us think of our own lives and how we often forget those few seconds where the world stops and for whatever reason we can enjoy life for what it is , a series of moments .
This simple novel does something else - - in a way it will skew your vision for days after reading it . Perhaps not immediately , but it will creep up on you and take hold at some point . South of the Border dispels with the idea that life can be a dream and that fanciful thoughts can in anyway replace reality .
We see that echoed in the title , the song South of the Border being so important to young Hajime and Shimamoto because at that time , without understanding the English words , that Cole was describing some magical place south of the border , some dream-like world where amazing things awaited .
Of course we find out through the characters that the song is simply about Mexico and that like life itself , this idealism the song held in their youth , was a lie . The Term West of Sun again echoes this sentiment , that strange instance where farmers forgo life to travel til dead towards the west , finding life itself empty and undoable .
Whether you are a fan of Murakami or not , you should read this book . Read it for its simplicity and then , think about the book below the surface . I think you'll find that Murakami offers here a very rewarding and fast-paced read .
005 4 Odd to say , but my first reactions to Murakami were much like those I had for Samuel Beckett - - I didn't quite understand what the man was up to , but he intrigued me nonetheless . With both of them I've gone out of my way to read everything they've written and hope one day to catch up . This book , the latest I've read by Murakami , I was able to approach with confidence . I still may not know what he's up to , but I think I know how to read him . What you may think of as ' plot ' is more of a device to present an uncontrollable world around the narrator , a vastness of the unknown , and Murakami's characters can only deal with it without ever solving it . This novel is brilliantly emotional and spiritual , a search for what is important and necessary over what is desired . Murakami also has an amazing writing style - - he sustains an emotional tension from the first word , and it never abates until the precise moment he wants it to , when there is either epiphany or despair at never reaching the former . I doubt this is good Murakami to start with - - for that , I would more easily recommend _ The Elephant Vanishes _ to whet your whistle , but this is a compact and highly effective book to come to later , once you're ready to sit back and listen to Murakami unwind as he sees fit .
006 4 A worthy successor to Endo and Mishima , Murakami writes of the spoiled restlessness of Japanese Baby Boomers , unburdened by memories of their nation's near devastation . This mysterious little tale is narrated by an only child who grows up , despite his denials , to be self-absorbed and obsessed with his own powers to please or destroy women . Never mind that he has a near-perfect marriage , family , and career . The character of Shimamoto-his first love - - with her inexplicable tragic appeal , is one of the most fascinating I've recently met in the pages of a novel . Likewise , the dreamy quality of the narrator's obsessions and delusions-e.g . , thinking he spots Shimamoto or another damaged woman he once loved only to realize that they are not who he thinks , or that they can't see him even when he's rapping on the window of their cab . I suppose that only an Asian novel could be so spare yet haunting . When the narrator Hajime , whose name means Beginning , realizes after the fact that he was attracted to Shimamoto because the irresistible look in her eyes meant Death-well , we know we're not reading a familiar story .
007 4 This book reminds me of the old French song Plaisir d'amour - the pleasure of love lasts but a moment , the sorrow of love lasts all one's life .
South of the Border , West of the Sun shares some common elements with the other Murakami fiction ( Sputnik Sweetheart , After the Quake , Hard-boiled Wonderland , and The Windup Bird Chronicle ) I've read so far : Self-centered men , elusive women , mysterious events . But this novel , less otherworldly than his other works , is a realistic portrayal of a failed romance . And the setting , social structure , and mores are very Japanese , in spite of the Western pop cultural content .
I have the impression that the novel is autobiographical , but whether or not that is true , Murakami conveys the emotional upheavel of a passionate extra-marital affair with great precision and insight , in spite of the barriers imposed by culture and language .
Philip Gabriel has done an excellent job with the translation . There were a couple of instances where I thought he might have made a better choice of language , but they were so minor that I didn't bother to note them . We always know we are reading a story about Japanese people , occuring in Japan , but they are real people and they speak a language we can understand . The translator seems to have erected no barriers between them and us , which is a remarkable accomplishment , given the differences between the Japanese and English languages .
South of the Border , West of the Sun lacks the weirdness and fantasy of Murakami's more recent novels , and will disappoint readers who like that aspect of Murakami's work , and who don't like adult love stories . But this novel easily stands comparison with the best of modern American fiction .
Highly recommended .
009 4 At first read , this would appear to be among the weaker of Murakami's recent works - perhaps a self-indulgent tour of sentimental moods from the past as an antidote to the gravitas of books such as Wind-Up Bird . The translation , as well , seems hastily done , with the protagonist speaking in a loose , casual tone we're not quite used to . And character-wise , we really have only Hajime and Shimamoto to guide us , rather than the usual cast of unusual everybodies .
That being said , South of the Border . . . indeed packs a punch as substantial as Murakami-san's other work , when read with the same intimacy and closeness with which it was written . Sure , there are the usual basic motifs : sex-mad women , drinking alone , vintage American jazz , and heartbreak . Something is a little off-key , but buried beneath candy-like prose . So what ? What distinguishes this book is what churns beneath the surface . It happens when Murakami , with his readers mesmerized , brings in his prosodic heavy artillery to lift the tale skyward . Physical and metaphysical transformation , deep body / soul trauma , and on-the-dot symbolism round the story out as a deep-structural tragedy that unravels itself with a devastatingly effective certitude . Frighteningly well done .
It's as much about destruction and selfishness as it is about togetherness and harmony . Two only children are in love - then come apart - then unite with shaken souls and memories of things completely irretreivable , much later in life . Hajime and Shimamoto , in another space-time , stayed in touch , married , and conceived an only child as a mirror of themselves . In this world , perhaps , they were happy - perhaps Hajime's idealism was intact and Shimamoto's intelligence given more room to breathe . Instead , at the sound of the crow , we infer this child's birth and death and realize that its presence in this world is limited to that of ashes in a remote stream . Murakami's device of bodily transformation , which also shows up in Sputnik Sweetheart for example , is most poignantly realized in South of the Border when Shimamoto becomes the beautiful woman and mother in a lopsided universe . Ultimately , with the death of the child who never really lived , readers unwary enough to have liked Hajime and Shimamoto ( and held hope for their future ) are mercilessly slammed to the ground . It's often said that tragedy is distinguished by the fact that it leaves more questions open than are resolved in the narrative ; this tragic tale , though , answers every question with a profound finality . Even the final breath is anticipated and confronted , until there is really nothing more that can be said .
So read it carefully and watch for the crow . Ashes floating downstream were never so sweetly devastating .
010 4 This is an intense , entertaining take on a familiar plot . The portrayal of Hajime , a bored , rich thirty something Tokyo businessman who feels that there is a big hole in his life , is intense and credible . Shimamoto , by contrast , is a sketch that the author doesn't want to colour in for his readers . Hajime says of her - A quiet smile that nothing could ever touch , revealing nothing to me of what lay beyond . We learn little about Shimamoto's personality or her appeal for Hajime . Does the adult Shimamoto really exist or is she just a figment of his adult daydreams ? It doesn't matter . The fact that this loose ends are not tied up is for me a strength rather than a weakness , but if you are the sort of reader who likes a tidy , closed ending , you will be disappointed .
012 4 This is a story about regrets . Hajime has one big regret , his childhood sweetheart . When she resurfaces later in his life , he is thrown into a midlife crisis that will force him to make some tough decisions . Murakami carefully crafts each character in this novel , so that you almost forget that it is a work of fiction . He makes it instead feel like a memory . The characters in this novel live in each of us . Murakami is able to force us to look inside to find them . Read this book !
013 4 South of the border , west of the sun is my first Murakami's novel I have read . Since then I read this story over and over again . This seems to be very personal story to the author himself . The main character Hajime carrys on his love for his first girl friend for 20 years and he could never once forget about her . This might seem unrealistic and obssesive but , to me , this is reality and sanity itself . I am offen surprised by stories of people that could get over their old love so easily and find new one in a short time . I wonder how true was thier love and how sepcial they were to each other . However , the main character Hajime also hurts his second girl friend Izumi unrecoverablely and after He lost Simamoto at last , he gradually forgets even about her . In this story , I could see how he lives intensely and looses powerlessly . It is sad but worth to read .
014 4 South of the Border , West of the Sun is one of Murakami's better works . It's not nearly as good as Dance Dance Dance or Hard Boiled Wonderland , however , it could have been better than Wind Up Bird Chronicle , if not for one thing . The abysmal translation by Philip Gabriel . Alfred Birnbaum was the best of the 3 main translators of Murakami's work , and Jay Rubin didn't do a bad job himself . With Birnbaum , the book could have concievably been written as you read it ; originally in English , for the way he handled it . With Rubin , you could tell that it was originally from the Japanese , but it wasn't entirely noticable , and was easily overlooked . Gabriel , on the other hand uses awkward slang and very stiff translations to make sure that you KNOW that this was NOT written in English , and that the original language , was indeed Japanese . If only South of the Border , West of the Sun had been translated by Birnbaum , or even Rubin , and this book would have been among Murakami's best .
015 4 If you never read Haruki Murakami , try this one . Might be a chance to be acquainted with a great novelist in modern times , to whom you feel very close .
Murakami certainly touched something very deep in human being , the very core of solitude inside ourselves . Even in our real life we are quite successful , there is still something yearning and wanting , never satisfied . The narrator in this book passed from early adolescence to mid-thirties . The external situations changed a lot , but there're some internal themes played on and on . Something inside him always resist being expressed in language . Something incompatible with the reality always attract him . And , when he was captured by , was pushed by this yearning something , he tends to neglect the people around him , and they'll get hurt , esp . those intimate and beloved ones . When I read this book , there's a sudden feeling of sadness when finally I realized it : we lack so much that we constantly pursue something , and yet we are so inclined to hurt ourselves and the people we love . We're so imperfect .
In this novel Murakami is quite different from his other novels , like A Wild Sheep Chase , Dance Dance Dance , or Wind-up Bird Chronicle , which , as tom lin said , are more bizarre ; in my language I would say they are more dealing with the world of dream and fantasy . Here Murakami rather deals exclusively with the realistic situations ; but , beyond that , he speaks eloquently of the irrationality inside ourselves .
016 4 Approaching middle age , with a successful career and a loving wife and family , Hajime enjoys what seems on the surface a contented life . Yet something is achingly missing ; all his life , he has kindled the warm memory of his long-lost childhood sweetheart , Shimamoto , who had understood him in a way no one else ever would . Both were only children , sharing a solitary nature and a passion for books and music . When Shimamoto unexpectedly reappears in Hajime's life , his desire for her engulfs him , threatening to destroy the life he has built for himself .
Though South of the Border is on one level a straightforward love story , the novel is infused with the haunting , dreamlike quality Murakami has perfected . There is a sad warmth to Murakami's writing that makes this quick-to-read novel perfect for curling up with on a rainy afternoon .
While beautifully written and engrossing , South of the Border doesn't quite measure up to the later novel Norwegian Wood , which contains many of the same themes and inspires in the reader the same bittersweet feeling . Having read both novels , I felt that Norwegian Wood was almost a more developed version of the same book , although the latter instead tells the story of a young man coming of age .
Like Toru , the protagonist in Norwegian Wood , Hajime is an intense loner torn between two women , who seem to represent the dueling Freudian impulses of life and death . Shimamoto is a dark , fundamentally broken character who we sense is somehow doomed ; while Hajime is irresistibly drawn to her , his wife Yukiko pulls him in the opposite direction , toward life and the present .
Those who have read other books by Murakami will recognize some other familiar themes , including the role of music in the novel's plot , suicide , a backdrop of 1960s political upheaval , and an eroticism that permeates the book . Although it is no Norwegian Wood , this novel blankets you in a sweetly melancholy atmosphere that lingers with you long after you put it down .
017 4 Three years ago I read this novel , and it haunts me still . A beautiful contemplation on love , loss , longing and regret . It is my favorite of Murakami's novels , though I love all that he writes . Not as wacky as Kafka on the Shore or countless others , this story is more refined and mysterious . Murakami took me to all the lonely , sad places that dwell in the human heart and left me there . His ability to delve into the souls of the dispossessed is uncanny , and this is one of the very few novels that I will read more than once . Superb .
018 4 He's usually recognized for his 700 + page epic The Wind-up Bird Chronicle , but in my opinion this book is his masterpiece . He seems to have figured out all he really wanted to say , and said it ; he's trimmed everything superfluous to the story , leaving the very simple , very moving chronicle of a certain man's love life . The writing is instinctive and unpretentious , and you never feel the author's agenda sort of creeping up on you - but at the same time , it has a more interesting agenda ( maybe too strong a word ) of any Murakami since A Wild Sheep Chase , and is extremely convincing . Reflecting on what it seems to be saying about human nature , I think ' that's true , that's really true , ' even though it didn't agree with my views at all . I also like the way some things - the secrets of Shimamoto's life - are never made explicit . What really made it great for me , though , was a very powerful image in the final pages , worth several novels about romantic longing .
019 4 South of the Border , West of the Sun stands among the most powerful experiences I have had this year : it is a truly unique and moving love story , an examination of sorrow and loss in all of their complexity , and it offers no easy answers . Possibly it offers no answers at all . In this work Haruki Murakami expands the inexpressable sadness and beauty of his short fiction into the scope of a novel , and in the process makes them deeper and more acute - - painfully so , in fact . South of the Border is an unusual book in that , despite the turbulence of the plot and the immediacy of the characters , it is neither plot - nor character-driven . That is , it is not driven at all ; unanswered questions , unspoken secrets , and inexpressable desires are so abundant that the usual novelistic devices of tension and release , conflict and resolution , no longer apply . We are in entirely new emotional territory , and thus in this work you will find no stürm und drang , no catharsis , nor anything so simple and heavyhanded as conventional irony . Nor , as I have said , will you find an answer . What you will find is a meditation on love and longing - - beautiful , disturbing , and profoundly meaningful . It is a sorrowful masterpiece which , in a strange echo of the narrator's own predicament , I have found impossible to forget .
020 4 To those who think there is nothing new here I refer to the scholar Joseph Campbell who said in all of our world's literature there are only three basic plots and everything we have is a variation on those three plots . Mr . Murakami is not interested in thrilling us with sensationalism or violent episodes . He is writing about people who live in a culture where self control is of paramount importance and one rarely expresses emotion let alone anger . The protagonist loves his wife and children but is caught in the grip of an obsessive love that began when a teenager , the one true love for whom all others are a substitute . When that true love comes back into your life what are you to do , what will be your course of action and do you have free will in the matter or is there a predetermined inevitable denouement ? The author eschews any outright surreal elements but one can't help feeling a dreamlike quality particularly in the deceptively simple narration so beautifully done as though the real person were actually talking to you telling you the story . Once again we experience the impact of the subtle although there are several unsettling episodes . Murakami intentionally avoids the rich use of language one finds in a writer like Updike but achieves his own transformative magic .
021 4 This is an interesting tale , one that certainly does deviate from what we're used to from Murakami . It's much more Norwegian Wood than The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , in that there lacks a particular fantasy element . But although the strange and absurd is lacking , the same kind of mystery that infuses many of Murakami's books is still present . We are presented with Hajime and follow him from his early childhood through middle-age , watching him go through the growing pains associated with love and friendship . He seems almost mediocre in every way until he marries the right woman and has a string of good luck that results in him living a pretty comfortable life owning and operating two successful bars . Trouble strikes when a girl from his childhood , his first love , comes back and throws his life for a loop .
What impressed me the most about the book is that - and this is more for those who have read a lot of Murakami - you keep thinking that something strange is just around the corner . The mystery is so all-encompassing that only something fantastic would explain everything . Instead , the mystery remains at the end , much as it does in real life .
So why the slightly lower rating ? The process of reading the novel was wonderful , but ultimately , I left the book feeling lukewarm or at least unsatisfied . That's merely my opinion . The reading of it was fantastic ( 4 stars ) , but the final impression was ok ( 3 stars ) .
Read it if you're a fan , try another one of his books if you're new to him .
022 4 Hajime , now in his mid - 30s , married , well-off and well-settled , stumbles upon Shimamoto , a childhood sweetheart and soulmate , and falls dizzily into a passionate affair with her . But is Shimamoto for real , or is she just a ravishing ghost , wrought by a soulful man who has everything but is still hungry for some sort of mystery ? Murakami's slick , jazzy mood piece speaks close to those who yearn to just get up and go , and go on walking west of the sun on a spritual adventure . It has beautiful atmospherics , and love passages that cut close to the skin . It is also a piece of writing that is hard to pigeon-hole . It is a romance , an erotic adventure , a ghost story , a philosophical meditation . Murakami's world is a peculiar blend of Zen-like calmness and the cool , sexy spontaneity of Jazz . It is neither Japanese nor Western . It is just Murakami .
023 4 This book ( my first exposure ) to Murakami starts off slow and mundane to the point of boredom , but before long you realize you are in the hands of a master . Like a marathon versus a sprint , the mundane realism allows Murakami to unveil with perfect pitch and timing the story of an only child and his long-lost childhood girlfriend ( also an only child ) who now , still beautiful in her late thirties , lives under mysterious circumstances and comes to see him in his upscale bar . Murakami reportedly translated into Japanese Raymond Carver , who never wrote a novel . It shows . Less is more here , and each revelation at the level of plot conceals something deeper about life . I loved the subtlety of the ending that brings to a naturalistic crescendo the novel-long tropes of walking , rainfall , and the curious eponymous place of the title . Inspiring-a minimalist masterpiece that inspired me with a desire to write , and to read more Murakami .
024 4 It's clear that this book polarises even fans of Murakami and it is not hard to see why . Although there are some similar elements to other Murakami stories , the whole premise of this book is rather different . This is a much more traditional romance , rather gritty and hard by Murakami standards , few if any truly fantastic elements , no attempt to tie down the loose ends at the conclusion .
This novel is a retrospective by a man in his late thirties who seemingly has everything and is yet dissatisfied . This in itself may put off many readers . The book is written entirely in the first person but unlike many of MH novels , the other characters seem both more realistic and better defined . With one exception , I found the steps of the narrative quite believable .
This is not a deep look into life's inner meaning but I think it will be thought provoking to readers who can identify ( at least emotionally ) with the main character - there are also many references to Tokyo life which may seem meaningless to some . This combination of obstacles may limit the appeal of the book rather sharply .
I found the translation much better than Gabriel's earlier effort at MH although why oh why does Meidiya become Meijiya and Shinjuku Gyoen become Shinjuku Goen . Beats me .
For those who don't like the sex scenes , I recommend Amy Yamada .
026 4 While considered by many Murakami afficiandos to be one of his lesser works , it remains one of my favorites . True , it lacks much of the wackiness we've come to expect from Murakami , but the end result is no less surreal . Like Norwegian Wood , this novel is , at times , very emotional , but it has a deep psychological element that NW lacks . Like Hard-Boiled , this novel depicts a mental struggle being carried out in the protagonist's mind - it's just more subtle . I think this novel will resonate with many men , especially those of middle-age . For all readers , however , this novel will invariably linger in your mind long after you finish it .
027 4 There is a moment between mystery and knowledge wherein the mind and body are eclipsed by the other and thrown into a brief but unforgettable oblivion . The smell of skin , the sound of a song or the touch of a young lover's hand may inspire this ecstatic passage , the catalyst cannot be predicted . The only certainty is that you will never forget the skin , the song or the hand in question , and you will always be vulnerable to its power .
The narrator of Murakami's tale feels as though he were promised a uniqueness that life never delivered . His odd birthdate and his unusual status as only child seemed to suggest an exciting individuality that would lead to adventure and greatness . However , by the time the story opens , he finds himself an adult with merely ordinary accomplishments to claim - - worst of all , they were only possible due to his father-in-laws ' generosity . As these subtle roots of discontent begin to plant themselves , he is revisited by the owner of the skin , song and hand that inspired unique feelings during his awakening childhood romance . After all these years the woman remains just as mysterious as she had been in the narrator's youth ( as do the narrators feelings , and Murakami's prose ) . What follows is a remarkably gentle investigation into the dilemma that sometimes arises between life and responsibility . The voice is purposefully naive , and the experience of reading this book is sadly , sweetly engrossing .
028 4 On the surface this may appear to be an un-Murakami work . However , it is more like viewing a classical figure sketch by Picasso rather than a work from his blue period or from his better known cubism work - - it is still a Picasso .
What is still very Murakami about this work is whether the mysterious women he meets up with at his bar is someone he really is meeting or is this all within the head of his everyman .
This work demonstrates that Murakami can tell a story that is not replete with devices and intricite flights of fantasy ; and yet take us introspectively to the tension between serenity and banality of what appears outwardly to be the model of a successful life .
029 4 Three cheers for Philip Gabriel and his translation of South of the Border ! In this volume the English reader has finally been presented with a translation of Murakami that grooves in Murakami's complex time signature . Murakami is a sort of Charlie Parker meets Billie Holiday on the page , riffing in complex rhythms in a voice roughened by too much experience . Here at last the fragmented sentences , the significant pauses , the vivid imagery and the Western influences of Murakami's writing are given full expression . As a fellow translator , I applaud Mr . Gabriel's work and can only hope that there will be more of it . As a fan of literature , I thank Mr . Murakami for another wonderful book .
030 4 I have always believed that Alfred Birnbaum was by far the finest translator for Murakami . He seems to understand Murakami's humor , structure , and sensitivity . Philip Gabriel is lost . The awkward structure and lack of the humor is an injustice to one of Murakami's darkest novels .
Please Mr . Murakami , bring Alfred Birnbaum back . ps . reissue Norwegian Wood in the US .
032 4 this is the best novel murakami ever wrote . the feeling , which is so thin , like smoke , but it will make you just want to cry . i recommend this book to my friend . and the second day he come back to me , said : i can't put down the book , and i read until the last word . it was 5 in the morning , and i can't resisted to call my girl friend . It is the magic of that book that make him just want to see his girl friend . for myself , i read it through for more than 5 times , but everytimes i read it , it wiil have something that words can't explain go through me . it's some feeling . and it makes me go to listen to Duke Ellington's The Star-Crossed Lovers , everytime i read the book , the beautiful alto saxophone of Johnny Hodges and baritone saxophone from Harry Carney will sing for me . i'm now a totally jazz lover . i have to ask myself , it is because i listen to jazz and became murakami's fans , or i read his book only became a jazz lover . but undeniable , Murakami's masterpiece is just like a jazz piece , beautiful solo from bill evans , smokey voice from chet baker , velvety singing from billie holiday , flourishing blowing from stan getz . . . . . . . . very very good one , and i think this is the best book to start to learn about Haruki Murakami .
033 4 Loved and rapidly ate this book up if only because it redeems those who feel they've wasted years of their life feeling unsettled and empty , longing for someone they can't be with . This is a brilliant portrayal of the complex dissonance that often exists between outward appearance and inner reality , and the way one copes when what wants can't be . You empathize with Hajime , you love him , even as ( or partly because ) you agree with his harsh criticism of himself . The story is believable , and all the more powerful , as childhood experiences are central rather than ignored . All of the above and more are written in a beautifully efficient poetic prose - - guess I should praise the translator too . Final bonus attribute - - this one actually reads like it takes place in Japan ( unlike many of Murakami's other more allegorical cyber novels , which are devoid of anything Japanese ) . Only the completely unwounded may have nothing to gain from reading this .
035 4 This minimalist novel tracks the life of a middle aged man in Japan . Born in 1951 , he grew up in a suburb outside one of Japan's great cities . At 12 , he fell in love with one of his schoolmates , a girl called Shimamoto . However , she soon left town with his parents . After that , life went on for him . At high school he started going out with girls , he went out and study literature at the university , after that he was employed in a boring job at a publishing company . Fortunately for him , at thirty he married the daughter of a rich ( if somewhat shady ) man , the owner of a construction company . With the help of his father in law , he decides to open a bar , which becomes succesful . Married with two girls , owner of a succesful business , life seems to go fine with him now . Until he meets again Shimamoto , and life threatens to unravel for him . A fine melancholic novel by Japan's Murakami , about the solitude of modern life , it includes some steamy and even graphic love scenes .
036 4 This is an interesting and introspective work by Haruki Murakami . This novel purports to show what love does to our lives .
The central character , Hajime , essentially wanders through a life that never seems to satisfy . He tears asunder the lives of those with whom he comes into contact , largely for the purposes of his own gratification . Intriguingly , like the main character of Osamu Dazai's Disqualified From Being Human , he makes no apologies for his behavior or his choices .
Instead , he merely cites them as the prerogatives of the heart . While I can , vaguely , understand why the main character does this , it makes him very unsympathetic , as he seems not to give a damn about those he hurts , so long as he has his satisfaction .
The only redeeming thing about this is that it is an accurate portrayal of love . When the wrong person feels love , he ( or she ) will destroy the world to hold the object of their passion in their arms . And this book does a nice job of showing how a quotidian existence can be mercilessly rent by the arrival of an old love .
Well crafted . Worth reading . But not uplifting . Very well written . A lovely little book . Buy it , read it , drink some wine . Sleep . Love . Live .
Harkius
037 4 Everyone falls in love at one time or another , whether it be a simple crush in middle school to a full-on love affair later in life . That is essentially what this book is about . Marakami explores the loves of a man named Hajime , who toggles between his three major girlfriends of his life , trying to determine which is the best fit for him , despite the decisions he has made since meeting them . Shimamoto was an elementary school pal who connected intensely with Hajime on an emotional level . Izumi was a high school sweetheart that Hajime destroyed emotionally due to raging hormones and a few bad decisions . Yukiko is the women Hajime married , a sensible but sometimes bland companion .
Love is all consuming and not easily dealt with logically . However , all actions have consequences , and sometimes our actions in the persuit of happiness can hurt and alter the lives of those we love . The subject is relavant and exciting , and Murakami's writing style is simultaneously intense and simple .
038 4 As always with a Murakami story echoes of the experience reverberate through the mind long after the last word has been read . And the experience is truly mesmerizing . Okay the plot is familiar but Murakami manages to invest it with a timeless quality that illuminates the human condition only too well : we experience the everyday suffering life has to offer when we're full of apparent weakness , hopelessness and despair as well as those transcendent moments that enable us to pull through and ultimately survive . There are no false moments in this short tale that can easily be read in one sitting but however long it takes the time will be well spent since it borders on perfection .
039 4 yeah i thought this was a step down from that book , the only other of his that i've read , but is still a worthwhile read.i tend to think that this is his daniel steel attempt at romance and middle age.i waited for something unusual to happen but nothing really does.seeing as how my only other experience with murakami was unusual i guess i was expecting more.but this isn't a bad book as it has something for everyone to relate to , i know i could.that long last love and hopes to run into that person again someday.middle age , married / family life and expectations of wanting more are all what this story is about.fans of murakami shouldn't be disappointed.for people who never experienced murakami before though i would not start here.i suggest my first experience instead with , Kafka On the Shore .
040 4 Haruki Murakami's South of the Border , West of the Sun , is certainly his most introspective , realistic novel since Norweigan Wood . It is also the one novel which seems more rooted in contemporary Japan than anything else he's written . At the heart of this slender novel is a traditional romance between the protagonist and his childhood sweetheart , and how their unexpected meeting decades later leads to some unexpected twists and turns in the late thirtysomething protagonist's life . Fans of Murakami's more fanatastic fiction may be disappointed with this novel , but it still remains an excellent work from Japan's greatest living novelist .
041 4 I was hooked by this book right away . . . I think the first chapter is quite possibly one of the most beautiful passages I've ever read . Continuing along , other works popped into mind . . . Kawabata's Snow Country for one , along with Murakami's own Norwegian Wood and Dance , Dance , Dance . Perhaps more so than the books I just mentioned , South of the Border captures the subtle delicacy that is human existance . The pure beauty of slightly parted lips , the danger of one tug on the steering wheel at 80 mph , the unexplanable mystery represented by the envelope with money . . . Murakami captured emotions and put them on paper with stunning results .
With the exception of Norwegian Wood , this is probably the most normal of Murakami's books . Both books deal with relatively similar topics , but to me at least , the growth of Murakami as a writer shows immensely in the differences between the two books . I read South of the Border right after reading Kawabata's Nobel-prize winning Snow Country ( a similarly deceptively simple story ) and I couldn't help but wonder if a Nobel prize isn't in Murakami's future as well . South of the Border , West of the Sun may not be Murakami's masterpiece . . . some would say The Wind-up Bird Chronicle is , I personally like Dance , Dance , Dance the best . . . but I feel that this book is nevertheless truly vintage Murakami . Murakami challenges the reader to rethink everything that he or she holds on to as true in this world . Shimamoto states that some kinds of things , once they go forward , can never go back to where they began . These things include not only physical acts , but the unfathomable workings of the mind and memory as well .
042 4 ' South of the Border , West of the Sun ' is a mere trifling of a book in terms of size and terminology ( at times it seems to have been written by a teenager ) , but it packs an unexpected emotional punch . The style is very Japanese , but its message is universal .
The story is about a middle-aged Japanese businessman who describes his life from childhood . It soon becomes clear that the childhood friendships he had , and lost ( or threw away ) , has left him feeling rather empty despite having wealth , a happy marriage and family . When a particular childhood friend shows up suddenly his life changes dramatically , and unexpectedly . Without wanting to give anything away , the only real demerit is the author's over-enthusiasm in making ' South of the Border , West of the Sun ' into a modern day ' Casablanca ' . I found this to be gratuitous and silly .
Overall the story is very basic , but I couldn't help but being moved by the message of the importance of childhood relationships and how they should be savored . The emotional punch of this novel greatly outweighs its sometimes crude narration and the relatively poor English translation .
Bottom line : basic , genuine and emotional . Murakami succeeds with sincerity despite his lack of literary finesse . I look forward to reading more from Murakami .
044 4 This book will have quite an appeal to the family man or anyone caught in the precariousness of life , love , job , and family , as they reach their thirties and beyond . Very simple and honest in narrative style , it primarily tracks a man's life through his loves . I thought the book was very strong in emotion , without there being any violence , drama , or harsh language . I was completely engrossed from beginning to end , and I feel this book changed me . If you've read and enjoyed the author's short short On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl . . . ( in The Elephant Vanishes ) , you will most certainly revel in this novel . Well done , Haruki . Please give us more like this .
045 4 I couldn't stop to loving this book when I read it at the very beginning time , in fact , I like all the books of Mr . Murakami . His books always give me a wonderful reading time , When reading his books , all the words are organizing an unknown world which attract me to to see what on earth people can give up things like that way , or indifferent to the social rules . It may not suitable for those pestimistic people , but it is very good for people who want to find some words to help him out of desprate .
046 4 The ultimate story of a man growing up - - issues of love , money , and responsibility are prominent in this novel . It's also a strange love story : boy meets girl , boy loses girl , man meets woman , man loses woman .
This is probably the most mainstream book Murakami has written to date . Many loose ends , but I wonder - - is it sometimes better to leave loose ends with stories ? It's kind of like what H.P . Lovecraft did with the cthulu stories - - all you see is the monsters ' shadows ; it leaves a more powerful impression in the end .
In any case , nothing is ever easy in Murakami's world - - especially the matters of the heart . Nothing is ever quite resolved , but hey , that's kind of like life , isn't it ? It's funny that even though Murakami writes more fantastic stories than most folks , his endings are quite ground in reality .
047 4 Though people say that this book is one of Murakami's weaker novels . . . I beg to differ ! The first impression anyone who's read this book would have is that Murakami was kinda sloppy this time around . This story may not be as bizarre as Dance , Dance , Dance ; it may not be as romantic as Norwegian Wood . But it's definately a top formed novel . The characters and the locations in the book are so vividly described , I felt as if I was in Japan , though really I was in a cheap coffee shop in Taipei . Don't let anyone tell you , I read that book , wasn't his best . Sure ain't my favorite . Read it yourself and make up your own mind . - - - tom lin
048 4 For me , the problem with reading a Murakami book is that I will have too much expectation for it . When I read this book , I tried to forget that , however , I still struggled to come with a favorable impression of the book . It felt like reading something that lacked a strong inspiration , even methodical at times .
The characters are reasonably developed yet I felt estranged from them . When all the layers of mystery have been peeled off , there lies a love story that is halfway between believable and pure cheese . The connection between the couple is based on the premise that they are the only child in their families , again , I find it hard to believe that this is such a rarity that makes the bond as special as the book tries to paint it to be .
The ending is hardly a surprise either . It is not so much unsettling as it discombobulating . I felt that it was forced and the best analogy I could draw is like a car driven off the cliff as there is no more road ahead of it . If you are a first time Murakami reader , this perhaps is not the best book for you . He is capable of so much more and this book will not transform you into a believer .
049 4 Haruki Murakami first charmed me with his ability to tie together fantasy and hardcore reality in Dance , dance , dance . Later I was deeply touched by his intense and attentive psychological masterpiece on the difficulty to cope with the constant loss that life has to offer us in Norwegian wood . This book definitely belongs to the second category , but falls far short of Norwegian wood , both in the complexity of the characters and in the atmosphere and surroundings . Half way through the book I could not help but feel that this was merely a draft , a sketch of the picture revealed later on in Norwegian Wood . Still worth the read , and it's a short one , but not the book to recommend for the one-book-per-writer readers .
050 4 One thing is certain - Murakami is a master of the written word , and this translation more than does his elegant , sparse yet densely image-filled style justice . However I have yet to be convinced of his powers as a storyteller .
This book is full of subtle and tightly-wrought emotions : longing and nostalgia , love and disappointment . The central character , Hajime , is a self-justifying and selfish middle-aged man portrayed in a very honest fashion . He is relatively successful and wealthy with a lovely wife , yet he still longs for the mysterious love of his childhood , the beautiful Shimamoto . Of course , she duly appears one day at the bar of one of his fashionable jazz clubs , causing Hajime all sorts of mixed feelings . What is more , during the years they have been apart she has gone through a whole set of mysterious events of her own that are never explained , and which complicate the renewed realtionship further . To add to this the novella is haunted by the spectre of Hajime's ultimately disastrous teenage relationship with another girl , Izumi , who somehow becomes the monstrous living embodiment of all the bitterness and bad feeling of failed love affairs .
Many reviewers seem to have seen this book as a beatifully-painted tale of love lost . It would seem difficult to say this without being at least a little as self-absorbed as Hajime . This is a tale told through him , through his very lop-sided view of his own past , through his memories coloured by retrospective slef-justification . His complete lack of understanding of Izumi , his wife , and indeed ultimately Shimamoto too , show a coldness towards women that he disguises as ' love ' . So this is a book about love , but only in as much as it is a tale of the lies and stories we weave around our lives that we call love . There is very little real love here .
This short work is a masterful and complex window into the subtle interplays of our own narratives of ourselves and our lives . However , perhaps because the central character is utimately a fairly empty person , and there is no real moral resolution , this has an effect on the enjoyment of the novella as story , whether one admires it as technically and emotionally-accomplished writing .
Perhaps all great writers do this to you !
051 4 This review is from :
South of the Border , West of the Sun : A Novel ( Paperback )
As a recent Murakami fan , I find this the most moving of all ( Dance , Dance , Dance and Norwegian Wood are two others I have read ) . Hajime , like heros in his other works , finds himself in one moral delima after another . ( Can one man fall for two women ? ) Murakami does not overextend himself or his hero . The viewpoint is exactly inside of Hajime for the entire book . So much so that the reader cannot help but identify with the hero . Even his moral indiscretions seem perfectly natural .
The story is full of fading memories , haunting fantasies , sudden departures , lingering guilt and suicides . . . spices that add flavor to a life in search of meaning . In one way , the women in Hajime's life symbolize aspects of this search and his star-crossed lover , the ultimate meaning of existence .
On a basic level , this is a straight forward love story with some blatantly hot sex . Not suitable for young children and the clinically depressed !
052 4 As a recent Murakami fan , I find this the most moving of all ( Dance , Dance , Dance and Norwegian Wood are two others I have read ) . Hajime , like heros in his other works , finds himself in one moral delima after another . ( Can one man fall for two women ? ) Murakami does not overextend himself or his hero . The viewpoint is exactly inside of Hajime for the entire book . So much so that the reader cannot help but identify with the hero . Even his moral indiscretions seem perfectly natural .
The story is full of fading memories , haunting fantasies , sudden departures , lingering guilt and suicides . . . spices that add flavor to a life in search of meaning . In one way , the women in Hajime's life symbolize aspects of this search and his star-crossed lover , the ultimate meaning of existence .
On a basic level , this is a straight forward love story with some blatantly hot sex . Not suitable for young children and the clinically depressed !
053 4 My first introduction to Murakami came with the Wild Sheep Chase , which established a pretty high bar to follow . This book , South of the Border , West of the Sun had its moments , but overall failed to impress too much upon me .
In retrospect , the book was better than I originally gave it credit for . Perhaps that is the result of me reading pretty quickly and thus my first impressions are sometimes a bit rushed .
Overall , the book the often-repeated Murakami pattern of a boring , or at least static , present triyng to come to terms with a haunted post-WWII childhood . There is the obligatory semi-suicidal i femme fatale / i , and a character who begins feeling more and more out of place in his reality . As the book goes on we delve into the past of the characters and being to understand the events that have shaped them . [ spoiler ] There is the repeated ( from book to book ) pattern of becoming estranged from a wife only to come closer to her in the end . [ / spoiler ]
Like the author's other books , we have two female characters , but in this case I felt The Wife was very well written , with more exposition and finesse than in other works . It is hard to go into details and not spoil the books twists and turns , but for anyone who is a fan of Murakami , or good contemporary literary fiction in general , this is a worthwhile read .
054 4 There are some nice elements in this novel and more than a few hauntingly elegant passages . Overall , however , I found South of the Border to be disappointing .
This is a character study in which the characters fail to captivate . The protagonist Hajime a successful bar owner who is struggling to reconcile a childhood decision to allow his one true love to slip out of his life . She reappears twenty five years later and sends his life into a tailspin .
Hajime's reflections start out interesting , but become increasingly cliched . Shimamoto , his mysterious childhood flame , briefly captured my attention but soon became tiresome ; I eventually started to hope that she'd simply stop coming around .
Many of the elements that I found so captivating in Murakami's excellent Wind Up Bird Chronicle show up in this novel as well - most notably his use of multiple story lines that don't all come together by the novel's conclusion . In Chronicle I felt that these threads formed a fascinating tapestry , but in this case I simply found them distracting tangents . Hajime's business dealings with his father in law and the subplot about Izumi a former girlfriend are examples ; they're neither interesting stand-alone elements , nor do they add to the story . Murakami is a brilliant author and there are some effective scenes in South of the Border , but in my opinion , this is not one of his stronger works .
055 4 Haruki Murakami's new novel is intriguing and romantic . We follow the hero Hajime's life from his childhood in middle class suburbs , through uninspiring years of college study and office work to an enviable situation of a bar owner ; a loved husband and a loving father . Through charm , straight thinking and good luck Hajime achieves glamour and economic comfort but his introspection leads him again and again to his teenage loves and hurts . He regrets losing touch with his junior high school soul mate called Shimamoto ( we never learn her first name ) and agonizes over his betrayal of Izumi . While the novel's story unfolds in powerful narration ( rendered simple , elegant and slightly colloquial by the translator Philip Gabriel ) , Shimamoto appears in Hajime's midlife as a beautiful and mysterious woman . She never reveals much about herself but the reader gets an impression of a fragile and tenuous life that can be extinguished at any time . Hajime unravels his charmed life through introspection and a romance with Shimamoto . The reader is taken on a magical tour of flashbacks as Hajime struggles to deal with his quandary of passion and obligation . Shimamoto is a figment of his imagination as much as a real person in this romantic narrative that combines a view of contemporary Tokyo with the magic of the occult . Murakami writes well and captivates the reader . His characters are not meant to be lifelike but rather reflections of our aspirations and desires .
056 4 One of the best novels I have ever read . . .
In typical Murakami fashion the book is so sparse you generate your own complete novel somewhere inside . As can be seen by the reviews , some people didn't find closure ; unfortunate for them .
The only thing I can't understand is how the language survived translation . Perhaps a reflection on the universal theme of the story . . .
Highly recommended . Try also Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler for something that messes with your head as much .
057 4 This is unlike other Murakami books I've previously read , but it is still enjoyable nevertheless . Unlike the bizzaro , surreal universe Murakami usually operates in , the setting for this story is very much rooted in the present day and world . There is still a dream-like , hallucinatory quality to the story , but there's not much of the supernatural or fasntastical .
I agree with other reviewers that not much happens in this book , but that is not necessarily a bad thing . Even though the bizzare is kept to a minimum , I was still excited about following the protagonist's story . This is a sort of coming-of-age story of a middle-aged , successful jazz club owner who was too satisfied with his life when a childhood love re-appeared in his life and rocked the boat . Murakami successfully created an ambience that transported me to the midst of the story , which I loved . Overall , this was an enjoyable read but is not as good as some of Murakami's other works .
058 4 I loved this book . I see that this book elicits strong feelings among the reviewers - many love it , some hate it , and that just adds to its appeal for me . Murakami explores the idea that we don't know those we love , that they live in our idealizations of them , which creates the strange sense of isolation many of his male protagonists live in .
For me this book was uplifting , about choosing the life one has over the illusions one has ( for Hajime about Shimamoto ) and letting go the idea that past mistakes define us , and make unhappiness inevitable .
059 4 The last two Murakami novels I read were Norwegian Wood and Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World . These two novels , in my mind at least , stick out as the most down to earth . Not necessiarily because they are realistic ( though Norwegian Wood is infact his most realistic , Hard-boiled Wonderland is amongst his most fanciful ) but because they give , or at least attempt to , order to their world . South of the Border , West of the Sun thus is to me a return to the Murakami that is best linkened to base myth . Together with Norwegian Wood , this novel ranks as one of his few attempts at a creation of a pure romantic-literary novel . As stated before , Norwegian Wood is far and away Murakami's most realistic work , so it succeeds far better at being romantic . But this novel does add something to Murakami's cannon that , I believe is lacking in the other novels ; that is to say , eroticism . Love in Murakami's works is treated as a transcendental force that no man or woman can control . It grabs hold of you and will not let go . South of the Border , West of the Sun takes that idea and analysis it heavily . But in the other novels , that love is treated as something higher then the mundane . In this novel , it is brought to the mundane , which is where the eroticism comes into play . I'm noticing that my comments on this book are coming out a little rambling . I could attribute that to the caffine at 2 in the morning , but I think it is more a testament to the effect that Murakami has on the dedicated reader . His works crave to be read and pondered . Well , to give my basic , simple opinion on this book . . . It is not his best . It is excellent , yes , but really nothing more then a minor footnote in the career of Murakami . Wind up Bird it is not . So I can not suggest this book to the person who has never read any Murakami . To them , I would suggest reading the I duo , A Whid Sheep Chase and Dance Dance Dance . After that , you should tackle The Wind Up Bird Chronicle . And by that point your'll be so enamoured with him that you'll want to read every minor foot note he has .
060 4 This is a wonderful book . By my opinion , however , not his absolutely best . I still vote for Norwegian Wood as the best book to start with , but you will soon want to move on to this work
061 4 haruki murakami is a master of the written word . . . south of the border , west of the sun is a lovely , romance . . . and not in the traditional sense of the word . . . or the idea . . . life and love are cyclical things , coming and going and going and coming . . . this book is a reverie . . . and ode . . . a noirish look into ourselves . . . reccomended to anyone who likes to read and think at the same time . . . just wonderful . . .
062 4 How can I live with my thoughts of another ? How can I continue on with the charade of loving one when married to this one ? I beg of you to provide me with the answer . Perhaps I am foolish to wonder about all the things that could have been . How can I reconcile those feelings for another when I have so recently promised myself to another ? Is it love or is it a knave's dream ?
Murakami strikes a chord within me , and with enough wine it can reveal much to you as well . How many lovers are left behind waiting and watching for the chance to step in and take my wife's place ? How can I face my love , to whom I've promised all , with the fact that there are many who await a mere phone call ?
Murakami has struck something here . Perhaps not gold , but something just as valuable . Probably nothing for all I know .
I will not see my wife again for a while . About 40 days to be exact . But in this time , who has time to be exact . I need time to sort through my own feelings , my own judgements .
This is a book to be read on a bright summer's day , not a cool summer night with several glasses of semillon and a lover nearby . It is clearly too dark to read alone .
South of the Border is one of Murakami's finest works .
063 4 Murakami is the master of unattainable love . But the Sheep Novels and Norwegian Wood are better at getting to bottom of that emotion than this slim novel . Murakami fans will still want to read it ( it is by no means BAD , just don't expect an epic ) , but if you are considering this as your first Murakami reading , I suggest you take a look at his other works first .
064 4 Ever read a book or see a movie that leaves you unable to immediately follow it with another ? I'm still thinking about this one weeks later . The thoughts of the main character closely parallel my own , especially along the lines of being an only child and how that somehow enables him to cause severe pain without ever intending it . He struggles with issues that are constantly with all of us , have I done the right thing ? If I take this path , what will I miss down the others ? How could I have done such a thing ? It won't enlighten you , but it will get you thinking . Kudos to the translator ! It is a beautiful book .
065 4 South of the border . . . is a slow-moving and intense piece . Hajime and Hashimoto are two children in love - with desires , which could equal those of adults but which , because of the deficient power of expression due to young age , could find no release . The problem persists into their adulthood . The two find themselves separated while still at school but meet again some 25 years later , when Hajime , by then a middle-aged successful businessman with a family , struggles to come to terms with the realities of a largely unfulfilled life . After years of fantasizing about Hashimoto he finally meets her in the flesh when she unexpectedly enters one of his bars . The two pick up exactly where they left .
Moral dilemmas of all sorts in combination with life circumstances are a powerful divisive factor , of course , but is that the only reason why communication between the two characters stays largely at the level of what it was when they were children - that is essentially visual and non-verbal ?
In the second part of the book Murakami explores with great perception , I think , the torments and turmoils of an unreleased sexulity , an unexpressed emotion and by extention of a relationship which is at a dead end . The reader moves slowly with Hajime through the tensions of his every conflict and through his every emotion with the speed and the power of concentration one could only expect of a T'ai chi practicioner .
Apart from all else , South of the border . . . is a wonderful , gripping and successful exploration of a mentality locked into itself and a mentality seeking expression . With great insight , the book looks into the roots of a passion between two adults , which sprang up in childhood , the childhood neither Hajime nor Hashimoto found the strength to abandon or to put behind them .
066 4 This is a short novel by Murakami's standards ( only 213 pages ) and that's a shame because it's an absolutely exquisite book . I just wanted to go on reading it forever . What it is is a warm , funny , poignant , insightful portrait of a man's mid-life crisis . Although it's set in Japan , the conflicts in the story are universal . This book would be irresistable even if Murakami hadn't thrown in an exquisitely crafted mystery that will continue to haunt you long after you've finished the book . Buy it , read it . You won't be disappointed .
067 4 Imagine we're spies . You and I . Imagine we're spies in a story written by Calvino . There's a rendezvous , down by the foggy dockside in the middle hours of some wintry night . You're nervous . It feels like a trap . You've not been given a lot of instructions and you feel weary . You know you're to meet somebody and you've been told to expect some kind of package . In the past , the packages have all been book-shaped . On this occasion , the package slipped between your hands in the dark surprises you : it feels like a bottle . You walk along the gang-planks , holding the package like a wrung dishcloth .
Curiousity gets the better of you and you tear back the brown paper and string . It is a bottle . The word Murakami is written on the label . Nothing else . Just Murakami .
You've heard about Murakami . You've been told Murakami never crumbles or flakes , that he's never raw or overcooked . You been told that you wont find him stuck between your teeth , like spinach , or lodged undigested in your colon like a chunk of red meat . You've been told he ain't tobacco : you don't gotta bite off a hunk and chew .
You unscrew the lid and swig . You drink Murakami . He eases down your throat and leaves a warm glow in your belly . He's an internal Ray Carver ( cos Ray Carver is like a roaring fire in Winter , you hold your snow-wet hands there and thrill at how weird and good it feels ) , warming you from the inside out . Good whisky as opposed to Good Raymond . At first , the taste is bitter and strong , like whisky .
The drink conjures images : a man called Hajime , his childhood sweetheart Shomamoto , his first girlfriend Izumi , his wife Yukiko , their children . There is simplicity , deceptive simplicity . The whisky makes things clear . You recognise these people and understand what it is they feel . Hajime loses touch with Shomamoto , breaks Izumi's heart . You know that these things can happen . You have lost touch with others . You have broken hearts .
You feel intoxicated .
The more you drink , the less like whisky it tastes . The flavour swirls around inside you , more smoke than liquid . You can't reduce whatever it is your drinking down to its constituent parts . It isn't that the images make less sense and more that you distantly perceive some greater truth being brought to bear . Izumi's broken heart changes her life . Hajime learns his wife , Yokiko , had a similar experience , attempted suicide . The reappearance of Shomamoto draws Hajime down a path not taken , down through a bottle neck .
You wonder if this is some kind of meditation on karma . Some kind of love story . Some kind of mystery . Or merely a trauma . Later , nursing an empty bottle in the harsher light of day , you wonder if perhaps Hajime imagined a greater portion of the action , if the story isn't in fact the story of a kind of breakdown .
Holding that empty bottle , that read book , up to the light , you think about the love you've seen here , the glow from the lamps and the moon , the sense of a secret passed between people who know .
068 4 Murakami veawes his own universes where you can choose to follow him or choose to let him go ( and be you bligh and bonny ) . In this book he describes a teenagers / mans life and his obsession with purity and love before sex comes into the picture . It starts when he gets to know a teenage girl ( his own age ) who is also an outsider . Trough long walks and talks , music and sharing space they become the best of friends . After she moves away from him he never dares to contact her again , maybe because he is afraid that his memories are not correct . Maybe because he brings unhappines to others ( still insecure ) and because he is also afraid to do this to his best friend . Or maybe because he now is afraid of being rejected as a man .
He is in short obsessed with her memory and when she one night walks into his bar he wakes up and goes from excisting to living , from sleepwalking to being alive to the full extent .
This is not the anarchistic Murakami of the Wild sheep hunt or Dance , dance , dance . This is a slower , more mature book , with little humour . But it is a book that grips me and let me live another persons life and which make me rethink my own obsessions , my escapees ( where ever they are ) and which gives a lot . This book feels very honest and very real and it almost touches Ishiguro in its sometimes sadnes . And if thats to much for you , then let it go !
069 4 I was surprised at the lack of crazy , wierd , jigsaw-like elements that there were in his last books . But , you can't expect a writer to do the same thing over and over again , no matter how excellent it is . At first I was disappointed , and I would have agreed that it was a boring trashy and unoriginal love story . But , I couldn't really accept that . I mean , he's just too good to do something like that . This story boils down some of the things that exist in his other books , in a harsh and unapologetic way . The main character is unlikeable , it's true , but neither is he dispicable . Murakami is just very , very subtle . It's a story of the ordinary , mediocre , and well-intentioned . And , who among us really lives like the characters in his other novels ?
070 4 Murakami is a master at bringing out mundane observations of everyday life while rendering such exquisite and melancholy sensuality to each emotion . The depth of emotions in his characters are wide-ranging and penetrating at the same time . After reading Murakami , one becomes addicted to his way of perception - - - at once witty and self-deprecating . This is a must read .
071 4 Another fantastic and wonderful book by Haruki Murakami . Not the best of his works , and to be fair , it did seem a little stiff in places ( compared to his other stuff ) . Still , this is a great book . Its amazing how effortlessly Murakami's multi-layered concepts flow into words and ideas that jump off the page .
072 4 This is the second masterpiece I've read ( Wind-Up Bird Chronicle ) by this great writer . It is uncanny how his writing can get into your head and cause you to think and re-assess your own life experience . I look forward to reading all his other works .
073 4 after the brilliant and sprawling ' wind up bird ' it's kind of nice to see murakami return to a more compact form . the language is a bit stiff , and is certainly lacking the loopy observations and much of the irony readers are used to .
but i couldn't put it down - murakami as always draws me in and won't let go . this dark , mysterious little novel feels less international - there's distinct japanese flavor to it . in places it's almost like a modern no play .
the ending is wonderful - so many questions , no real answers , just some hope .
074 4 Many levels to this deceptively simple book , but the one that stayed with me was the story of redemption of the hero . The pain he can inflict on others through satisfying his own desires comes back to haunt him . Reminiscent of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , but deeper and more somber . It was hard to disengage from this story once I began to read it .
075 4 Although this novel has fewer of the supernatural qualities of Murakami's other efforts , making it more accessible to new readers , it is every bit as dark and deeply engaging . A beautifully written book that I recommend highly .
076 4 This review is from :
South of the Border , West of the Sun ( Hardcover )
as with all murakami novels , you get absorbed in the story instantly . the plot was not as intriguing as The Wind-up Bird Chronicle nor was it as brilliant as Hard-Boiled Wonderland . This book has more of a somber tone . A very good read , nonetheless .
077 4 as with all murakami novels , you get absorbed in the story instantly . the plot was not as intriguing as The Wind-up Bird Chronicle nor was it as brilliant as Hard-Boiled Wonderland . This book has more of a somber tone . A very good read , nonetheless .
078 4 The ultimate story of a man growing up - - issues of love , money , and responsibility are prominent in this novel . It's also a strange love story : boy meets girl , boy loses girl , man meets woman , man loses woman .
This is probably the most mainstream book Murakami has written to date . Many loose ends , but I wonder - - is it sometimes better to leave loose ends with stories ? It's kind of like what H.P . Lovecraft did with the cthulu stories - - all you see is the monsters ' shadows ; it leaves a more powerful impression in the end .
In any case , nothing is ever easy in Murakami's world - - especially the matters of the heart . Nothing is ever quite resolved , but hey , that's kind of like life , isn't it ? It's funny that even though Murakami writes more fantastic stories than most folks , his endings are quite ground in reality .
p.s . Don't let that other person sway you - - this is a fine translation . Philip Gabriel's translation of the story Barn Burning is better than Birnbaum's by a mile .
079 4 Philip Gabriel's translation seems distinctly sub-par . I don't read Japanese , but I would assume that Murakami doesn't write as clumsily as some of _ South of the Border . . . _ comes off as . What happened to Jay Rubin and Alfred Birnbaum , two excellent translators ? Despite that , a fine book . I wouldn't say it's Murakami's best , but it's excellent by any measure .
080 4 This is like all of Murakami's books in that it is devoured easily - and over too soon . I was excited to read Murakami stripped bare of fantastical elements - eager to read a purely ' humanist ' novel from Murakami - an insight into the male experience of relationships and women in Japan . While I was reading it - I felt warm and comforted by the blanket of excellent Murakami writing . . . but in the end . . I feel a sense of disappointment in the portrayal of women and relationships - where women are silent mysterious almost vaporous creatures . . . which men latch onto to fulfill their desire for sexual mysticism - without needing a ' person ' to go along with this . In this sense - these deep silent relationships left an empty aftertaste . Yet if this is an honest portrayal of marriage and affairs in Japan then it is also honest and perhaps meant to be distressing and unflattering of the modern male .
081 4 In my eleventh grade English class , we discussed many aspects of American literature . Beginning with Huckleberry Finn and ending with Rule of the Bone , one of the things we studied was the evolution of Twain's revolutionary character Huck Finn . The next major incarnation of this classic protagonist was Salinger's Holden Caulfield . Later works of literature portray character embellishments of Holden . The novel by Judith Guest , Ordinary People , could be considered Holden's story after his breakdown , who embodies Conrad Jarrett . Haruki Murakami's , South of the Border , West of the Sun , essentially is an American novel written with Japanese characters . And his protagonist , a sufferer of teenage angst like Holden Caulfield , is named Hajime .
South of the Border , West of the Sun appears to be an empirical memoir narrated by Hajime about his life . It begins with his childhood and emphasizes his friendship with his contemporary friend Shimamoto . The two characters share many interests , but above all they both are only-children . As is the case with many childhood friendships , when Hajime moves to another city , their friendship withers away and they never see each other again . The story continues chronicling Hajime's life and development . After a devastating relationship with his girlfriend Izumi , Hajime's development stops . He finds that he is unable to divest himself of the guilt of destroying another human being .
There are many themes in South of the Border , West of the Sun . One main theme is that perhaps life is full of uncertainty . Another main theme is that one should live for the moment and not in the past . The past traps Hajime in a monotonous life style and steals his twenties . Hajime struggles many times with this concept . He cannot bring himself to yield to the moment . But ultimately all of Hajime's problems and Murakami's themes stem from Hajime's lack of self-identity .
The novel ends up like a mixed bag . Murakami never bores the reader with endless paragraphs of description and the novel maintains a rather brisk pace . There were three types of paragraphs : dialogue , actions , and thoughts . Each went very quickly , but the paragraphs about Hajime's thoughts were at times unoriginal and uninspired . Suddenly though , Murakami seizes the moment and writes something that is beautiful especially when he writes about disappointment and death from which title originates . And unfortunately , this comes at the end of the novel .
The impartiality of the narrator does not help the story for the main reason that the impression left upon the reader at the end of the novel is that Hajime is on the path towards character change . Hajime realizes who he is and therefore , finds the solution to teenage angst . But the style of narration argues against that , and if the style of narration is correct , then the protagonist lacks any character arch . Another interesting thing regarding the narration , is the subtle change at the end of the novel . Murakami shifts from his description and dialogue , to a dialogue heavy transcript . Before , his ideas came in description ( actions and thoughts ) paragraphs . His ideas become significantly more effective after the change .
Perhaps in Japan the American youth character and plot has not been over used since its conception in Huckleberry Finn , but nevertheless for an American reader the story lacks the ever important twists and reversals over the portrayal of common themes , characterization , and plot . Unfortunately , for a novel that contains beautiful moments , it invalidates it as a fresh and influential piece of literature .
082 4 This review is from :
South of the Border , West of the Sun ( Hardcover )
I've read a number of Murakami's books . I consider The Wind Up Bird Chronicle be a masterpiece , and others ( e.g . , Dance Dance Dance ) to be closer to mediocre . I found this one to be in the same league as Wind Up Bird Chronicle , but its also a far simpler and more direct , elegant story . The translation is excellent , and the story itself is compelling and , in places , heartbreaking . Murakami really understands the male soul and knows how to weave interesting stories around its travails . This is a great , if somewhat short read .
083 4 I've read a number of Murakami's books . I consider The Wind Up Bird Chronicle be a masterpiece , and others ( e.g . , Dance Dance Dance ) to be closer to mediocre . I found this one to be in the same league as Wind Up Bird Chronicle , but its also a far simpler and more direct , elegant story . The translation is excellent , and the story itself is compelling and , in places , heartbreaking . Murakami really understands the male soul and knows how to weave interesting stories around its travails . This is a great , if somewhat short read .
084 4 To me , ' South of the Border , West of the Sun ' felt like a very minimal ' Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , ' with the focus placed strictly on the love-story aspect of things . In both books , numerous bizarre little things pop up and then disappear without much explanation ( the money in the envelope , etc . ) , and the ending tends to seem to be as much about what Murakami * neglects * to provide you with as with what he * does . *
To some extent Murakami is very thought-provoking in this way . But to some extent , in the case of both this and Wind-Up Bird , I couldn't help but feel that he just didn't entirely understand what he wanted to do with his story . Certain aspects of the story can be left hanging in the air in order to deliberately create a particular effect , it's true - - but I wonder if Murakami doesn't overdo this technique a bit ? The envelope with the money is a good example : a small oddity that is never really explained or explored , it seems thrown in strictly to generate speculation ; to , when paired up with other small oddities like it , create that surreal Murakami effect while , at heart , remaining just a little too arbitrary . I * like * these small oddities I speak of , but a part of me pines to see Murakami weave a new tale into another startlingly cohesive , strangely powerful anti-climax , like that of ' Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World . ' Not that I consider ' Hard-Boiled ' Murakami's crowning acheivement or anything , but it's the one book of his I've so far read that , while still displaying all of the usual Murakami eccentricities , did genuinely leave me 100% satisfied . Not because everything was explained and nice and neat and perfect , but because it felt very competently * orchestrated * in the way it used its own imperfections to highlight its bizarre and unexpected ending ( particulary in the ' End of the World ' chapters . )
By contrast , ' SOB , WOS ' feels , to some degree , like it uses its ( deliberate ) imperfections as an excuse for a lack of clarity . It is still genuinely thought-provoking , but in some respects I guess I'm just beginning to feel like Murakami has it a little too easy . His books are all very similar , and have employed the same techniques again and again . They are * fascinating * techniques , but I'd like to see . . . a more ambitious employment of them , perhaps ? ' Wind-Up Bird ' was a more ambitious employment in many respects , but Murakami refused to bring his intriguing web of surreal juxtapositions and cross-analogies together for optimum impact . He refuses again in ' SOB , WOS , ' but it's a smaller and simpler work . Which on the whole almost makes it a step back .
I love Murakami and I enjoy all of these techniques I'm discussing . I just want to see him build upon what he has , and after ' SOB , WOS ' I just don't feel like he is . I'm nagged by the suspicion he's using his own stylized brand of ambiguity as something of an easy way out . I know that that ambiguity , and the refusal to give the reader what they expect and want , are absolutely vital to what Murakami is all about - - and that is fine . I just feel as though Murakami dawdles a bit as an author : he has his own very unique thing going on , but I've seen it MANY times over now , manifest in more or less the same kinds of images , the same kinds of ideas , and in the same attitude ; he seems either unwilling to do anything particularly new , or unable . Still though , even with this said , SOBWOS was well worth my time and ought to be well worth any interested readers .
085 4 I love Murakami's writing style and the way he always manages to turn a slightly boring character that one would rarely ever think about into something fascinating and almost always strange . This book isn't any exception to that , and I loved it for everything it was , and there was nothing missing from it . It's just so hard , though , not to compare it to everything else I have ever read by him , and because of that , I just can't give it the five stars it perhaps deserves .
086 4 A quick , fascinating read for people who love love stories . I was blown away , and felt so lucky that I happened to pick this book off the shelf . I read it a few weeks ago and all I can recall is it was a celebration of the power and mystery of romance , an unbidden , uncontrollable , joyful wrecking ball that none can master or understand . My take is since romance often causes more destruction than happiness in our world , it is our world that comes out looking shabby and romance that retains its luster .
087 4 This is less surreal than some of Murakami's other novels , but just as gripping none the less . Very well written ( and translated ) . It is a simple love story that is hard to forget .
088 4 In a way , this is Haruki Murakami's purest work . It features a stereotypical Murakami plot : a long time ago , a boy and a girl were friends . Then they seperated . Years later they met again , but something had changed . Something was missing , something spiritual and intangible , something impossible to explain . In most Murakami books , the two characters would then go on some metaphysical quest to resolve the problem of this missing something . South of the Border is different , though . Rather than resolve this conflict , Murakami simply ends the book , leaving the reader to wonder what happened . Murakami's novels seem to thrive on this sort of lack of information . He manages to explain , usually in a large-ish number of words , that nobody has any idea what's going on . In books like The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , where the problem is resolved , the reader finds that he or she has not really learned anything in the end . Because of this , it is admirable to find a novel where Murakami doesn't go through the usual motions , but simply leaves the ending open . He manages to portray his typical themes of lost love and dissatisfaction with modern family life , as well as that surrealistic Murakami style , in under 300 pages . South of the Border , West of the Sun will leave you bewildered and alone , but it is a beautiful book , and a good introduction to Murakami's works .
089 4 I cannot help reading this book again and again . I feel great
sympathy with the hero who seeks absolute something for him
within his partner , maybe . Though you could spend life
without noticing it , if once you would know it you could not
go back to the former state . It would let you know how
lonely you were in the past and if you once miss it , you would
suffer from the hunger for it forever .
I can also feel perfect content that the hero has when he is
with his girl and it makes my heart really warm .
090 4 I was first introduced to Haruki by one of my Japanese friends . She had with her one of the original Japanese to English translation of Norwegian Woods . I devoured it in a frenzy . I went back to my friend and told her that this would be my FAVORITE BOOK to date . And then she told me that Norwegian Wood is a 2 part series . . . but unfortunately , she didn't have it . I searched all around for the 2nd part , but that was back when there was a little copyright problem or something with the publisher ( ? ? ) and it coudln't be imported into the states . So I paid ( dollar amount ) for both the books . A few weeks later , they started selling the books in the states for like ( smaller dollar amount ) a piece . . . haha anyhow . . . my point is , I really loved Norwegian Wood . So I started to devour all of Haruki's books . . .
. . . Then I found South of the Sun West of the Border . I would have to say that this book ranks right up there with Norwegian Wood . I can't say it's better . I felt Norwegian Wood was much richer than this book , but this book just tickled me in the right spots . I don't really know what it is about Haruki , but I find him refreshing from the books that they make you read in the school system .
And I gave this book to one of my friends , and he claims it was a life changing experience . He's not hooked on Haruki , too . . as well as few others I've introduced the books to . Get it !
091 4 The least pleasing of his works that have been translated . Compared to the Sheep books , Norwegian Wood , and Wind-Up Bird this is lightweight . I didn't get the sense of all is not right in the world that I usually get from a Murakami book . This is not to say it is a bad book . Just for HM , it isn't his best .
094 4 I love the novel by Murakami . But every time I finish reading , I always feel lost , empty and heart ache.After reading this book , I realize how we always hurt the ones we love , the ones who love us . Hajime hurted his wife and Izumi of course , and he hurted Shimamoto too - - he lacked the courage to continue to visit Shimamoto after his family was moved , that caused all the following tragedy.But consider the way he grew up ( as a only child ) , it was difficult for him to chose his life , at least in his young age.In fact , it is difficult for all of us.Hurting each other seems to be the inherent fate and sin of human being , which is hard to be avoided.I m thinking the resolution , but the answer seems to lead to religion again .
095 4 What a letdown . This is my first novel by Murakami , and the reviews had me full of anticipation . The first few chapters showed an easy flowing style that kept up a good pace , even as they carried plenty of insight .
But I agree with the other reviewers here who simply disliked the narrator and main character Hajime . He pouts half of his life , until he finally gets married . ( Who would want him ? ) He then claims to love his wife and kids and his new job , but he has a very selfish streak that keeps him living in the past . His wife's ( Yukiko ) weak character development is deliberate , I'm sure , but I would have liked to see more of it . . . her father gets more than she does .
So then Hajime supposedly runs into the love of selfish little life , the beautiful Shimamoto . She returns to him out of nowhere , refuses to talk about her life , and he is so smitten he obeys . One thing follows another , her mystery entices him , then in the end - SPOILER ALERT ! - she disappears forever . Along with other circumstances , we are left wondering if he didnt imagine the whole affair . Well , so where does that leave us poor readers , holding the bag , I guess . Did this really happen , and do we really care ?
So I'll give SOTBWOTS 3 stars . Pluses for the quality of writing , minuses for the expedient , somewhat stupid climax .
097 4 This is my second Murakami book ( the first was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles ) and although the two books are very different in some ways , both are brilliant and satisfying . Murakami manages to tell a story with the same warmth , depth , and uncanny blend of realism and romantic idealism as Milan Kundera . Just amazing . . .
099 4 This is a marvelous book . Although not as broad as some of his earlier books , the protagonist is a likeable everyman , and his struggle with memory and desire makes for an addictive read . It's not just Wind-up Bird Lite , but a wonderful work with just the right touch of Murakami madness .
100 4 South of the Border , West of the Sun is a slight story about an aimless , Tokyo-dwelling man who formed a prepubescent romantic bond with a fellow only child named Shimamoto , lost touch with her when his family moved away , had a string of girlfriends in high school and college , married a woman he loves but feels unsatisfied with on a deeper level , suddenly begins to encounter Shimamoto again in a series of haunting , rainy encounters in a jazz bar he owns , then must unravel the mysteries surrounding the strange circumstances of her background , decide whether to leave his wife for her or not , and uncover the life-or-death struggle symbolized by his decision to reject or accept her as his lover . The narrator makes the right choice in the end , though the tone of the novel's closing is too pat and unconvincing . The book is far more realistic , conventional , and modest than all of Murakami's other novels published in English ; at 213 small , lightning-quick pages , it feels more like an outtake from The Elephant Vanishes that was too extensive to include as a short story in that volume . The prose is fluid and clear , if filled with cliches ( though that could be a translation problem ) . An amusing hour-and-a-half read for his fans ; I wouldn't make this my first Murakami book .
101 4 I thoroughly enjoyed this book . From the first paragraph I was gripped by the flowing prose and intriguing characters . What is particularly remarkable is that the main character is not particularly likeable , and yet I found myself totally caught up in his life and thoughts .
The novel starts when Hajime is twelve years old and his best friend is Shimamoto , a girl with a limp , whom he spends precious hours with listening to her father's record collection . As Hajime grows older he becomes more reckless , first having a passionate affair with the cousin of his girlfriend and later on having flings whilst his wife is pregnant . When he is twenty eight Hajime briefly sees Shimamoto and follows her , but they never speak , and Hajime doesn't see her again until she walks into one of his jazz bars almost ten years later . The novel charts their developing relationship .
I liked the themes throughout the book : being an only child , the nature of love and desire , why people do bad things , the tediousness of office jobs and modern City life . This was my first Murakami book and I'm looking forward to reading others . To be honest , I can't believe that I enjoyed a book so much that ended with so many unanswered questions . Shimamoto's life after she and Hajime were together when they were twelve remains a complete mystery , and the significance of the envelope with the money in it also raises plenty of questions .
Overall this was a fairly short , stylish read - just as I like them . Highly recommended .
JoAnne
102 4 Murakami's writing is testament to the relativity of love , the impracticality of romance , and the ability of the self to accept life's conditions .
103 4 South of the Border , West of the Sun is a good travel read . I liked the title , it seems mysterious . The existence of a yearning in every person , yearning for dreams to come true . . the inexplicable sense of emptiness when you know that there is something more . . but that its left behind or is not in your destiny . . is well elucidated in the book .
But ironically , as in Hajime's life , there is something missing in the book . . I understand the protagonist's feelings in theory , but I dont feel them with him . I can see why he's wistful of the past , but frankly I don't care . Maybe because the language felt so flat . I wonder if its because its a translation . Or maybe I expected some Japanese-ness ( ? ) to the language . A lot of the phrases and words used seem very American , so the characters don't come across as Japanese or of any particular culture . That should probably be a good thing , shouldn't it , to be able to write across borders . But I like to read non-English author's works as it gives a sense of the place , of the people , their culture . I think I had a lot of expectations from the book .
All said , the book is a decent read so I will definitely give a try to one of his more famous books .
For lack of anything more apt to say , this book was just a case of lost in translation for me .
104 4 This book starts out great . Murakami's ability to draw the reader into the life of a sexually frustrated high school boy is amazing . He continues his ability to awe during the character's young adult life , detailing the drudgery of a college student's unfulfilled drive to become something special as his enters into the all too typical unsatisfying corporate job and short term relationships . With all this detail , I was convinced by half way through the book that I was going to get something mindboggling at the end . That I was going to be shown how everything ties into a larger meaning into this character's life and at the end I would be saying WOW . However , it was just the opposite . Murakami missed the chance to show why the character's relationship early in his life really mattered .
For example , although we get chapters of detail concerning the early emotional underpinnings of the character with his early lovers , the ending seems to leave the importance of the relationships unresolved . And that was not the only unresolved issues in the book . In the first couple of chapters , we are introduced to Izumi , a high school sweatheart of the main character . The details of this relationship are intricately played out . However , with the exception of two brief , and seemingly forced later scenes , this long lost lover completely drops out from the book . Although there is rumor of what happens to her , we never really find out . And except for the added unneeded sense of relationship guilt to the character's psyche ( unneeded in that it adds almost nothing to the story of his subsequent relationships ) we are only given hints of what happens to her . The reader is equally left guessing as to what becomes of Shimamoto between her schoolgirl days and the resumption of her interaction with the main character . Although she clearly has some deep scars , we don't fully know why . For example , we don't know any of the circumstances around the death of her child , even whether she was married to the child's father , which is hinted at . We are also not told what happens to this woman at the end , even though she is such an essential figure in the story . Rather , we are given just hints . Further unresolved is a why a man just gives the main character a handfull of money to forget about this woman . This man's identity is never explained , nor is his relationship to the woman , nor why , suddenly , the money disappears from a locked drawer in the character's desk .
Although the author's narrative skills are gripping , I was left with the feeling that he just did not know how to tie in so many lose ends and decided to simply punt . The ending thus left me with a strong sense of O.K . , but what happens next ? I have no problem with leaving somethings to the reader's imagination . But , this should not come at the expense of a writer's responsiblity for writing , developing , and concluding a story .
I admit that there could be another rationale , i.e . , that all these issues were resolved in an underlying strata of the text and I just missed them . If that is the case , I feel that they should have been made a bit more clear so I could at least had a hint that I should be trying to read between the lines . However , even that hint was missing , or I missed it .
105 4 I have read all of Haruki's books that have been translated into English and I this one is by far the worst . In most of his books , Haruki's main character is aimless and the magic of his books is in what happens to the character , not the character himself . It seems that Haruki wants you to like the main character in this book , but unfortunatly he's just not very likeable . Still , though I liked reading it , but if you have not read Haruki before I suggest not reading this one first . Try A Wild Sheep Chase . There are too many loose ends to this one .
107 4 In South of the Border West of the Sun we are introduced to Hajime a Japanese Jazz club owner who is going through a mid-life crisis . Hajime has made it to this point of his life without having a sense of purpose or any goals . He is seeking the meaning of love , life and death .
Haruki Murakami created a book of Japanese Noir in South of the Border West of the Sun . I loved the writing style , very noir , like mysteries by T . Jefferson Parker or James Ellroy which seemed so unusual for this type of fiction . It made it seem so American to me . I wondered if the translation was intended that way or if it is Murakami's style . There is one very compelling scene in which Hajime stealthily follows a woman through the rainy dark streets of Tokyo .
The main character Hajime an only child born in 1951 seems to be looking for love in all the wrong places . Hajime meets his soul mate , Shimamoto as a young boy , but soon moves away from her . In his adolescents like many others he discovers the joy of sex . From that point love and sex becomes a driving force in his somewhat aimless life . He is a very obsessive man who drifts through life without fully knowing why . His perspective on love seems stereo typical feminine , with his expressed feeling being that life has no real purpose without true love .
The style was so easy to read . Hajime is simultaneously humorous and crazed . It is enjoyable despite this reader's impatience with the main character .
108 4 Murakami is a master author . his talent , however , is wasted on this hackneyed plot . After a string of masterpieces that astound and push the envelope of literature , Murakami retreats into a soft-porn world of rehashed characters . It seems that he is afraid to excercize himself . This book is something I would expect from a writer like Danielle Steele , not a master craftsman like Murakami . The talent is still visible through the haze of predictability , though , leaving hope that forthcoming books will return to his previous standards of excellence .
109 4 I can't fathom how this book could rate so many 5 - star reviews . It was a nicely-wrapped bit of soft-porn fluff . It reminded me of another prettily-packaged piece of cotton candy from 5 years ago , The Bridges of Madison County . I felt the story line was weak and unrealistic ( obsessed by a friend from 7th grade ? Hey , buddy boy , get a life ! ) , the writing style - - or translation - - incredibly juvenile , all of which led to a non-ending . Having read these reviews before buying the book , I truly anticipated a great reading experience . But , at least in this case , a good thing did not come in a small package .
110 4 After an exciting read of ` Norwegian Wood ' and a disastrous ` Windup Bird Chronicle ' , I hesitatingly picked up ` South of the Border ' , as highly recommended by a friend who also recommended ` Norwegian Wood ' , stating ` South of the Border ' is just as compelling , if not more . It is a short book , with easily read page format . The story lines are clear and somewhat compelling , however , it was disappointing the way Murakami carried them out . Hajime , a seemingly ordinary young Japanese , except being the only child of the family , had a lonely childhood with only one friend , though the ultimate attraction of his life . In Hajime's later years , several women came into the picture , including this childhood friend of his , then a stunning beauty with mystery , a girl that he had badly hurt by having sensual contact with the cousin , who later died and a girl who finally became his wife . . . Even the success of Hajime's career of being a yappy jazz bar owner couldn't relate him less of these women . However , these women are more or less ambiguous touches of his life , never leaving any trace of clue towards the truth , even with Murakami's contrived endeavor . The mystery about Shimamoto , the childhood friend of Hajime , shined a bit in the peak of the story line , but faded away with her disappearance in the end , without any indicator of who she was , what she did and so on , except being excessively wealthy and protected . Not that I have anything against Murakami's romantic suspense stories , but this one seemed to be a work out of absentmindedness and casual imagination . BTW , the sex scenes in the book also look absurd since they seem to be thrown in by Murakami simply trying to be exotic and eyecatching , as they don't have much to do with the whole theme of the book , let alone the possibility of being offensive to some female readers . . .
111 4 This book made me cry . I never cry .
112 4 You know , I've been somewhat critical of Murakami in the past , but even if his writing did tend to become formulaic , I would never have anticipated that he was capable of writing something as bad as this .
It seems to me that he was trying out a more overtly ' Japanese ' type of writing than usual for him : there's none of the hyperkinetic jumpiness or gonzo plot twists that we find in much of his work ; instead , we lots of vagueness , mystery , and emotional threads not fully explored . I think he was trying to be Kawabata here ( with the exception of the sex scenes , which , incongrously , made me think of Bukowski ) . And I'm all for that , in theory : writers ought to stretch their wings . But the reality is not pretty . Make no mistake : Kawabata would not have won the Nobel Prize if he wrote things like this .
The problem is the protagonist and narrator , who is a deeply unlikable person . Obviously , that in itself isn't a literary judgment ; nobody would condemn Lolita because Humbertx2 is on the despicable side ( actually , somebody probably would . I don't want to know about it ) . But the fact is , Hajime is supposed to be sympathetic . Don't argue with me ! He bloody IS ! Every positive reviewer on this website thinks so . Not that I wouldn't be willing to concede that ninety-odd people could all be wrong , but they're not . He is . Murakami is working in overtime to try to create a sense of melancholy / regret / bittersweetness - - all centered on his character . Unfortunately , he appears to be teetering on the edge of narcissistic personality disorder . All he does his entire life is hurt people . Sure , he feels guilty now and then , but guilt without action is meaningless : it's just a way to make yourself feel better without ever actually having to change in any way . Murakami's characters always have a certain degree of self-absorption , but ol ' Hajime just takes the cake . It was utterly impossible for me to sympathize with him in any way . And the way his wife is willing to enable his pathology is simply stomache-turning , and creates the VERY strong impression that this is really nothing more than an unpleasant masturbatory fantasy .
If you want subtle , lingering emotions of regret , read Kawabata . If you want Murakami , read Wind-Up Sheep Dance Wonderland . I can think of no good reason for you to read this misbegotten novel .
113 4 I've read everything Murakami ever wrote and this book , while quite good , is no where near the transcendent earlier works . I find it odd that after his densest book ever ( The Wind up Bird Chronicle ) comes his most accessible book . By all means read it , but not to the exclusion of his other books which are even better .
114 4 The theme of this book is universal : a man who cannot forget a youth love ( Dostoyevsky , Turgenev , Fournier . . . ) .
When the main character of this book sees his ex-girlfriend back after two decades , the smouldering emotion becomes a real obsession . He wants to leave everything else behind him to begin a new life with her .
The story is told in a very simple poetical captivating language , now and then abruptly cut by physical . . . outbursts .
But some aspects are flawed : the link love-death ( he ' saw ' the death in her eyes ) , the mystery surrounding the real life of his ex-girlfriend and the rather easy end .
I found that this book had not the intensity of ' The Idiot ' by Dostoyevsky or the truly surprising plot of ' First Love ' by Turgenev .
115 4 Frankly , this is only half a book . Too many plot lines are left unanswered . I'm all for some things being left to the reader's imagination , but hey , throw me a freakin ' bone here . Basically this is a bit like an autobiographical apology for some indiscretion on the author's part dressed in the thinnest of plot shells . Consign this one to the Barbara Taylor-Bradford catalogue . Next please , Mr Murakami !
116 4 Three things draw me to Murakami's works : 1 . his beautiful prose , simplistic yet flowing 2 . his dreamlike plots 3 . his fatalistic characters
i South of the Border / i is bereft of all these traits , or rather displays them in an alarmingly facile manner . Earlier works like i The Wind Up Bird Chronicle / i and i The Great Sheep Chase / i ( esp . the former ! ) were the kinds of books that left me thinking about the characters each time I put them down , sometimes even causing me to feel like my reality wasn't quite . . . real ( you know that hyperrealistic feeling you get when you've immersed yourself in an engaging story that's set far outside of your normal purview ) . This one left me thinking , If this is what we can expect from Murakami in the future , it's time to move on to another author .
117 4 This is a well written book written on the first person . It is an account of the main character's life and more specifically of his romantic endavour . It is a slow and intimist story .
The narrator starts by by telling his first loves and the story goes back to the present . Because the character is given enough psychological depth , we get to understand better his frustration ( the feeling that the life he lives is not his ) and dilemna ( following his love and true feeling or leaving his life as it is ) .
It is a perfectly fine book , however I wasn't grabbed by the story as I had been grabbed by other books from the same author . Part of it comes from the fact that the story line is a little flat and banal in my opinion and at times indulges in plain sentimentalism . While the characters are admirably built for the most part , the story lacks the youthful frankness of Norwegian book and the fantastic elements of spoutnik Sweetheart . There are many similar themes however : remaining true to one's feeling , love for an unreachable woman , suicide and music .
Yet , I have to admit that even though I was irritated by the book I felt compelled to finish it .
118 4 Three things draw me to Murakami's works : 1 . his beautiful prose , simplistic yet flowing 2 . his dreamlike plots 3 . his fatalistic characters
i South of the Border / i is bereft of all these traits , or rather displays them in an alarmingly facile manner . Earlier works like i The Wind Up Bird Chronicle / i and i The Great Sheep Chase / i ( esp . the former ! ) were the kinds of books that left me thinking about the characters each time I put them down , sometimes even causing me to feel like my reality wasn't quite . . . real ( you know that hyperrealistic feeling you get when you've immersed yourself in an engaging story that's set far outside of your normal purview ) . This one left me thinking , If this is what we can expect from Murakami in the future , it's time to move on to another author .
119 4 Usually a book evokes some sort of reaction in you whether it be minor or major , but I was surprised to discover a book so unremarkable I was left with no reaction at all . The simple writing style I found quite dull , though I suppose his technique might have been lost in the translation . As for the story , it's a nice enough idea - pining for something you can't have - but you need a fair deal of tension and evocative writing in order to convey the anguish of lost love , and I'm afraid this book just doesn't have it . I've read the other reviews and many other people have commented that a ) this is one of the worst of the author's works and b ) that the story has many loose ends . Well , I haven't read many of his other books so I can't comment on his talent as a writer , but it is true that the story has many loose ends . However , you care so little for the characters you don't care about the unexplained aspects . Easily forgettable .
120 4 There is nothing new about this plot and the writing style is not engaging ( ? blame the translation ? ) . A quick read , but more suited to the beach in summer , and not literature .
Symbolism is heavy-handed . His life is the desert , and Shimamoto is water . She only appears in his bar when it rains . The author feels the need to point this out to the reader .
When Hajime's wife discovers his infidelity she earnestly proclaims that she only wants him to be happy , and if he wishes , he can take everything , even their children . Right . Even cultural differences do not allow for this over the top male fantasy to be credible .
I don't understand why this book has been so well-reviewed . Maybe it is a romance novel written for men . Guys - - there's lots of this stuff out there .
121 4 I read the Wind Up Bird Cronicle and absolutely adored it . I couldn't wait to read another masterpiece from Murakami but all this book left me with was an empty feeling . I will give him another chance to impress me though as I have just ordered Hard Boiled . . .
122 4 I didn't believe other people that I had heard dissing this book . Don't let any personal attachment you have Mr . Murakami's other wonderful novels convince you to give this one a chance . It stinks . The most boring of male fantasies . It stinks .
very under-the-radar , so to speak . The narrator , Hajime , a Japanese man who owns successful jazz clubs outside of Tokyo , weaves a tale that can either be interpreted on its surface level . . . a love story , complete with loss and tragedy . Or it can be delved into more deeply . South of the Border certainly has its obvious double entendre . It can signal the beginning of a sexual awakening ( it is no coincidence , either , that the main character is named Hajime-which means beginning ) . Also for the children , narrator and his friend Shimamoto , ( we only ever learn her last name , which is another indicator of the wall that she kept up to shield herself from the outside world ) South of the Border was something far off , exotic and unattainable . In a sense , this is exactly how Hajime felt about Shimamoto . He felt he lost her after they lost contact , and that love could never be equalled . Later when he discovered what South of the Border meant he felt like he had been deceived .
The book is filled with imagery of this sort that can conjure up many deeper meanings than are obvious . The narrator tells of his life and girlfriends he has had and how he has hurt some of them , one of them irreparably . In his life , he always returns to thoughts of Shimamoto and to the girlfriend he hurt ( Izumi ) . Meanwhile , his life goes on . He finds that he has very little motivation for anything , and after college becomes a textbook editor , which he hates . He meets his wife , Yukiko , when he is 30 , and Yukiko's father takes a liking to Hajime , which is fortuitous in that it allows him to alter the path of his professional life and open the jazz bars . . . but this leads to a great deal of destruction in his personal life . Shimamoto reappears after not having seen Hajime since they were young teenagers . Eventually they confess that they are still in love with one another , although Shimamoto is quite different and very mysterious . Shimamoto enters and leaves Hajime's life easily , and the reader never learns the details of her alternate life . You only discover that she has effectively turned Hajime's life upside down .
Everyone just keeps on disappearing . Some things just vanish , like they were cut away . Others fade slowly into the mist . And all that remains is a desert .
This is a splendidly crafted novel and can appeal to the reader on many levels . ( And Hajime's first girlfriend's father is a Japanese Communist dentist tennis fanatic who named the family dog Karl after Karl Marx . You will probably never see such an inventive character again in your life ! )
008 4 Murakami's books increasingly remind me of jigsaw puzzles missing several pieces - - I never learn exactly what happened , or why . To Western readers who are used to having the details spelled out his book can only disappoint . Yet I still enjoyed SoftheB , WoftheS . It is a deceptively simple story of Hajime , a man with a sccessful life , career , family - - who suddenly meets his childhood sweetheart Shimamoto . At once he is plunged into a crisis of heart , soul , duty , little of which resembles the western conceptions of such a romance . Both Hajime and Shimamoto had grown up fairly typical modern Japanese young people ( the story could have been set in the US ) , yet in the twenty-five years they are parted the Murakami magic subtly alters them . Shimamoto never explains what happened to her , where she was , and her fate is in keeping with this ( Don't worry , I'm not spoiling it ! ) . Hajime never has really recovered from knowing her , or from his teenage lover Izumi , who remians equally engimatic ; this book is faintly reminiscent , for those who read it , of Kawabata's famed Snow Country . Murakami continually considers the thin gray line between abandonment and freedom ; his people again and again must confront just what they want to do , just how free is truly free . Others may not consider the ending a happy one , but for me , it is enough .
011 4 I read this book voraciously , unable to put it down , and had a tough time not resenting people and things that drew me away from it . After I finished it , I missed the pleasure of reading it . Yet for all this enthusiam , I can't articulate what it is about this book ( others by Murakami too ) that I find so spellbinding . I guess it has something to do with a feeling of familiarity I experience wandering around in Murakami's inner universe , even given how strange and enigmatic his stories tend to be .
Some other customer reviewers have been frustrated by the stories unresolved loose ends : what happened to Shimamoto ? what purpose did the Izumi character serve ? I felt that in this book ( as I did with other Murakami books like Dance Dance Dance ) that these different female characters are really all one person or entity fragmented into different aspects : Shimamoto is the one that got away ; Izumi the one you regret hurting ; Yukiko the one you go back and really be with .
What is the purpose of breaking up the Other mentioned on the book jacket in this way ? It may be an attempt to tease out what it is we feel when we are in sexual relationships - the more elusive and amiguous feelings as well as the obvious and positive ones . If I am unable to come up with a satisfactory answer to this question , it still didn't prevent me from loving this book and feeling that unique sense of familiarity I mentioned before . Something like oh yeah , that IS what it's like , isn't it ?
025 4 i am an admirer of haruki murakami's works . his characters are very endearing and different from the typical businessman traits that make up a majority of japan's older male population . his characters are independent and though they suffer loss or heartbreak , they venture forth and carry on .
this story , to me , is a departure from his previous works . his other works were strange tales of searching for something that took the main character and reader to different realms both physical and metaphysical . but this story is a love story , plain and simple and it works well . the character here is much like murakami's other male characters , independent and easily identified with . the main character , hajime , must deal with a conflict in the form of an old love returning to him and the mysteries she hides .
the story may be different from murakami's other works but the writing style is definitely there . i really like the references to music and jazz in this story especially to one particular henry mancini song . but this story has a scene in all its detail that many of his readers might or might not be put off by . i leave that up to the individual to decide without giving away too much of the plot .
this story is very sentimental and it captivated me with its overall simplicity and narrative .
031 4 Over twenty years ago in a small company town in post World War II Japan , Hajime and Shimamoto were childhood sweethearts , who eventually drifted apart . However , over the ensuing years , though he married , sired children , and manages a successful nightclub , Hajime sees obsessed with his former girlfriend , whom he has not seen in two decades .
Hajimos ' life abruptly changes when his dream-lover walks into his suburban Tokyo club . She carries baggage and secrets that she refuses to reveal to him . He carries his obsession that propels him to be willing to risk everything he has earned to this point in his middle age life to regain his first love .
Anyone who wants to read something a bit different , ought to try any novel ( that is translated novel unless they read Japanese ) by the great Haruki Murakami . The fabulous author knows no genre boundaries as he enters and refreshes many of them . With SOUTH OF THE BORDER , WEST OF THE SUN , Mr . Murakami scribes what initially appears to be an old fashion love story . However , in the hands of this master , readers gain a glimpse into the potential destructiveness of love when it turns obsessive . The characters seem genuine and accompanied by the Japanese background augment the story line with incredible layers of depth . This reviewer strongly recommends this novel especially to romance readers and the author's unique other works like the WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE .
Harriet Klausner
043 4 . . . BUT NEVER , EVER WEST OF THE SUN . Imagine the disappointment of listening to music in childhood , imagining it to be something otherworldly ( the lyrics are not in your own language , and you have no idea what the singer is singing about ) . It is almost mystical and mysterious , and you think south of the border must be an amazing place . The disappointment and disillusionment you must feel when you reach adulthood and realise the song is just talking about Mexico shatters any illusions you may have had in those innocent days of childhood . This is the case with the narrator of the story , who narrates a seemingly simple story of unrequited love that began with childhood friendship and afternoons listening to various music that formed the soundtrack for the rest of his life . The story is deceptive in its straightforward quality : very under-the-radar , so to speak . The narrator , Hajime , a Japanese man who owns successful jazz clubs outside of Tokyo , weaves a tale that can either be interpreted on its surface level . . . a love story , complete with loss and tragedy . Or it can be delved into more deeply . South of the Border certainly has its obvious double entendre . It can signal the beginning of a sexual awakening ( it is no coincidence , either , that the main character is named Hajime-which means beginning ) . Also for the children , narrator and his friend Shimamoto , ( we only ever learn her last name , which is another indicator of the wall that she kept up to shield herself from the outside world ) South of the Border was something far off , exotic and unattainable . In a sense , this is exactly how Hajime felt about Shimamoto . He felt he lost her after they lost contact , and that love could never be equalled . Later when he discovered what South of the Border meant he felt like he had been deceived .
The book is filled with imagery of this sort that can conjure up many deeper meanings than are obvious . The narrator tells of his life and girlfriends he has had and how he has hurt some of them , one of them irreparably . In his life , he always returns to thoughts of Shimamoto and to the girlfriend he hurt ( Izumi ) . Meanwhile , his life goes on . He finds that he has very little motivation for anything , and after college becomes a textbook editor , which he hates . He meets his wife , Yukiko , when he is 30 , and Yukiko's father takes a liking to Hajime , which is fortuitous in that it allows him to alter the path of his professional life and open the jazz bars . . . but this leads to a great deal of destruction in his personal life . Shimamoto reappears after not having seen Hajime since they were young teenagers . Eventually they confess that they are still in love with one another , although Shimamoto is quite different and very mysterious . Shimamoto enters and leaves Hajime's life easily , and the reader never learns the details of her alternate life . You only discover that she has effectively turned Hajime's life upside down .
Everyone just keeps on disappearing . Some things just vanish , like they were cut away . Others fade slowly into the mist . And all that remains is a desert .
This is a splendidly crafted novel and can appeal to the reader on many levels . ( And Hajime's first girlfriend's father is a Japanese Communist dentist tennis fanatic who named the family dog Karl after Karl Marx . You will probably never see such an inventive character again in your life ! )
092 4 . . . BUT NEVER , EVER WEST OF THE SUN .
Imagine the disappointment of listening to music in childhood , imagining it to be something otherworldly ( the lyrics are not in your own language , and you have no idea what the singer is singing about ) . It is almost mystical and mysterious , and you think south of the border must be an amazing place . The disappointment and disillusionment you must feel when you reach adulthood and realise the song is just talking about Mexico shatters any illusions you may have had in those innocent days of childhood . This is the case with the narrator of the story , who narrates a seemingly simple story of unrequited love that began with childhood friendship and afternoons listening to various music that formed the soundtrack for the rest of his life . The story is deceptive in its straightforward quality : very under-the-radar , so to speak . The narrator , Hajime , a Japanese man who owns successful jazz clubs outside of Tokyo , weaves a tale that can either be interpreted on its surface level . . . a love story , complete with loss and tragedy . Or it can be delved into more deeply . South of the Border certainly has its obvious double entendre . It can signal the beginning of a sexual awakening ( it is no coincidence , either , that the main character is named Hajime-which means beginning ) . Also for the children , narrator and his friend Shimamoto , ( we only ever learn her last name , which is another indicator of the wall that she kept up to shield herself from the outside world ) South of the Border was something far off , exotic and unattainable . In a sense , this is exactly how Hajime felt about Shimamoto . He felt he lost her after they lost contact , and that love could never be equalled . Later when he discovered what South of the Border meant he felt like he had been deceived .
The book is filled with imagery of this sort that can conjure up many deeper meanings than are obvious . The narrator tells of his life and girlfriends he has had and how he has hurt some of them , one of them irreparably . In his life , he always returns to thoughts of Shimamoto and to the girlfriend he hurt ( Izumi ) . Meanwhile , his life goes on . He finds that he has very little motivation for anything , and after college becomes a textbook editor , which he hates . He meets his wife , Yukiko , when he is 30 , and Yukiko's father takes a liking to Hajime , which is fortuitous in that it allows him to alter the path of his professional life and open the jazz bars . . . but this leads to a great deal of destruction in his personal life . Shimamoto reappears after not having seen Hajime since they were young teenagers . Eventually they confess that they are still in love with one another , although Shimamoto is quite different and very mysterious . Shimamoto enters and leaves Hajime's life easily , and the reader never learns the details of her alternate life . You only discover that she has effectively turned Hajime's life upside down .
Everyone just keeps on disappearing . Some things just vanish , like they were cut away . Others fade slowly into the mist . And all that remains is a desert .
This is a splendidly crafted novel and can appeal to the reader on many levels . ( And Hajime's first girlfriend's father is a Japanese Communist dentist tennis fanatic who named the family dog Karl after Karl Marx . You will probably never see such an inventive character again in your life ! )
123 4 This book's only good point is that it's a quick read . I found the protagonist shallow , overly sentimental , but most importantly , static . While his journey through the cliched upper middle class man's midlife crisis translates easily from Japanese to American culture , perhaps the reason I should empathize with him was lost along the way . Hajime grapples with obstacles and problems that everyone experiences , but his inability to learn from anything , to form an attachment to people in his life or a moral compass repels me .
If you want something fluffy , exotic , sexy , and sentimental , if your suspension of disbelief is amazing and you don't care too much about the likability or depth of your characters , maybe you'd enjoy this book . Otherwise , I'd suggest picking something else .
