Sputnik Sweetheart

More Murakami!  There's another one to go, but don't worry, I'm going to take a break before I go on to that one.

I like Sputnik Sweetheart the most out of the three Haruki Murakami books I've read so far, I think.  I'm not sure if it was because the translation was done by someone else (Philip Gabriel - the first two were by Jay Rubin), or if Murakami actually wrote in a different style relative to the personality of the characters, but this novel read in a much more welcoming, casual vibe.  It's still surreal, but stays on topic more than his other works, with a clear plot and more importantly, the characters seem to have true feelings.

The fact that one of the main characters is a lesbian, too, gives a refreshing modern angle to the book.  Even now, I don't think characters such as Sumire exist very often in culture in patriarchal Japan which made it all the more enjoyable to see a free-spirited, "hipster" girl amid the frigid, mechanical women of Murakami's usual worlds.  This misfit quality gave her even more life, in a way that I don't think I would really have appreciated had I not read the author's other works beforehand.

The loneliness of existence seems to be a common theme in Murakami's works, but its clear that it isn't something he's trying to solve or explain.  It feels more like he's simply inviting you into a friendly (mostly one-sided) conversation for a few minutes to gage your reaction.  Maybe you'll quietly listen, or maybe even agree with him - I think that's what would give him the most pleasure.

After the Quake

After obsessing over The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, I binge bought all of the Murakami titles on the 1001 list.  As the books I've ordered trickle in, I started on After the Quake.  It is a collection of 6 short stories with minor ties to the 1995 Kobe earthquake.

The first story, ufo in kushiro, was so similar to Wind-Up Bird that my initial reaction to the collection was a tired disappointment.  However, as the other stories opened up, I was happy to see that Murakami does clearly have creativity beyond one story line and has a talent for evoking wonder with mysterious fantasy-like scenarios.

It's hard not to think of the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami in 2015 while reading about lives affected by a large scale disaster in Japan.  You don't really think about how such an event affects people who are indirectly tied to it, and Murakami does this in a crafty way that makes you think.  None of his characters have suffered the loss of a loved one by the earthquake, but all of their buried pasts are brought to the surface in haunting ways.

I think part of the strangeness in Murakami's writing is that all of his characters never seem fundamentally Japanese.  Any references to brand names, literature, and culture is always reflective of Western culture.  Even the food that they eat is European/American (why is it always spaghetti??).  I'd be interested to read it in the original language to see if it translates differently, although unfortunately my skills with Japanese text are not so advanced.

In relation to that, one thing that bothers me is the use of the phrase "don't let it bother you too much" that gets used constantly in Jay Rubin's translations of the female characters in Murakami's books.  I don't know what the original Japanese term was from which it came, but this particular choice of words bothers me.  It seems to cold and unapologetic, something that I can't imagine creeping in to Japanese speech as often as it does in these stories.  But then again, I guess women are cold enough in Murakami's world to constantly be disappearing/leaving in.  I wonder if it reflects on his personal life.

Mrs. Dalloway

I knew nothing about Virginia Woolf save the fame of her name a week ago, and I must admit, after reading what Google pointed to as the easiest to read for Woolf beginners; Mrs. Dalloway, I still don't have a clear  understanding of what she's supposed to represent.

What to say?  The novel is incredibly fluid, changing from one character's point of view to the next's with the theatrical style of a camera swinging in one seamless move.  It's remarkable, really, as you hardly realize it's happening until it has, and your mind has to play catch-up.

The fact that the main characters are elderly came as a shock to me as well.  It so rarely happens, and even less so when it relates to the bourgeois and events like fancy dinner parties.  I must say the fact that my book's cover had a photograph of ladies in their twenties did not help the matter.

I enjoyed the moments shared between Peter and Sally best.  And though I cannot say I was especially pulled by the novel as a whole, the final section was provoking.  I like the draw of the past, and the reality of emotions vs. rationality in fiction because one cannot really experience that of other people in real life.  Life choices...am I right?