Murakami

This is stream of consciousness. Spoilers ahead. So don’t read this if you plan to read the book.

I like books where there’s a bit of mystery, something for me to puzzle through. Murakami really hits this right for me. I’ve read a lot of his stuff (Fiction & Non – both are great!). The fiction in particular is always weirdly mysterious.

In his latest book (The City & It’s Uncertain Walls) the protagonist travels between two realities: the Every Day world you and I know (which he narrates with loving & extensive detail), and the world of The City. A big part of the mystery is: who is the protagonist in these different worlds – is he speaking from the perspective of his physical body (everyday world), or his Shadow perspective (in The City). Confusingly: both bodies (Shadow & Physical) are present in both locations and they swap identities: the Shadow in The City seems to represent his Physical Body in Everyday World, and his Shadow seems to represent his physical body perspective in the City. More confusingly – it’s not quite so symmetrical. But I think the pattern works out correctly: his teen-age love disappears without a trace (classic Murakami), but continues to exist in The City – presumably her ‘Shadow’ perspective persists there while her ‘Shadow’ dies in the city (and thus also her physical body in the Everyday world). Confused? I think that means it’s working.

Note to self: body and soul is maybe a better way to describe body and shadow…

And that’s just one layer – he writes about enduring love (or perhaps obsession?), and how it can lead one to living a shadow of their real life, simply by focusing on the unobtainable.

Then there’s even more Murakami classical weirdness – protagonist ends up in a hole (does this happen in 20% of his books? More?!?). There’s a cross-dressing ghost, and a childhood savant. All mixed in with his extensive narration of plants, jazz songs, and coffee cafes.

One new(?) weirdness: statement repetition. It’s very noticable that the protagonist is a really good active listener. He basically repeats what the other conversant says. Other characters do this too. It’s honestly kind of annoying. “It’s honestly kind of annoying?” Yes, it is.

The first time I read of his books I was really thrown for a loop – fortunately his earlier books are shorter (J. K. Rowling Syndrome). Now they are confusingly comfortable. It’s winter here in Seattle, so hunkering down with a comfortable book is quite seasonal.

The organized part of this post ends here: more stream of consciousness that I might make use of below.

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I’m reading the new murakami book. Or by reading I mean listening to it. I like murakami I have for a long time. I like how many possible meanings there are in whatever he’s writing in. The new book talks about two worlds, one where people have shadows and one where people are separated from their shadows. It seems to me as if the object of our hero’s affections his living in the world without shadows, and her world with shadows presents basically dies because her Shadow in the no shadow world ends up dying.

At one point, his shadow says that this is the land of shadows and that the people who inhabit the no shadow land are in fact shadows. Whereas the shadows in this land are the real people who then suffer and die. And this makes sense in terms of what happens in normal world.

Chapter 20 seems to be where most of the good information is at our heroes. Shadow tells him that the residents of the town are in fact shadows that have been separated from their physical bodies and the physical bodies are represented as shadows. So kind of a topsy-turvy world and that the memories of the shadows are stored. Sorry the memories of the real people are stored as dreams which are protagonist reads. His shadow also tells him that the protagonist has essentially constructed this world and that it has taken on a life of its own which is interested in keeping him in it.

Jo, what this means is that the shadow of the protagonist’s love has convinced him to enter this Shadow world. Perhaps as a way of keeping it alive.

” In this town, feelings are dangerous. Ellipsis which is why they are sealed in containers and left for you. Who is a special person to read?”