South of the Border, West of the Sun, by Haruki Murakami
By Peter on Dec 26, 2007 in Fiction Books, Haruki Murakami
“A person can, just by living, damage another human being beyond repair,” says Hajime, the main character in this book. And he sees this damage as two-sided, where the person causing the damage is wounded as well: “Maybe I’ve lost the chance to ever be a decent human being,” he goes on to think.
Haruki Murakami is a Japanese author, born in Kyoto in 1949, who mainly grew up in Kobe. He is strongly influenced by American literature, and has a Western style. He has written a wonderful string of sensitive well-crafted books. His books have been translated to more than 30 languages, and he has several times been mentioned in association with the Nobel Prize in Literature (but has so far not received it). His books include Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Underground, and Kafka on the Shore. You can visit the Haruki Murakami net site for complete information about him and his career as a writer.
South of the Border, West of the Sunis a quietly floating, beautifully written story about the life of Hajime from a 
child to a grown of man in Japan. Seemingly. He does mistakes, and he does hurt people, but his sins are no worse than those committed by other’s more or less daily - they are just those more or less usual acts, of selfishness and lack of courage and the like, that people are prone to do as they pursue experience and gratification.
Hajime lives an ordinary life, but Murakami builds a sense of how fragile that life is, and indeed how fragile most lives are. One false move, or one unanticipated circumstance, such as the arrival of an uninvited visitor at just the wrong moment or a snowfall that causes a flight to be canceled, and the damage may be done. And if it is, then history can only move forward, so whatever resulted from that event can not be undone.
For the longest time, I just felt this was one more of those nicely written books that in a soft spoken and rich language described a life, with love and the pains of growing up, the existential profoundness of making choices about life, and so on. But then that irreversible logic, the event that changes that which is, occurred to Hajime, and his life was transformed.
And so, to me, was the book. No longer just a good, but still “12 in a dozen” kind of book, but now, suddenly, a flower in bloom, a masterpiece unfolding in my mind. I do not think this is Murakami’s best book. But I do know it is well worth your time. And I do think you will love it!
– Peter
cinberk | Dec 26, 2007 | Reply
Interesting/enlightening review. Have not read any of his books, but recently saw a staging of After the Quake. Must admit that I did not care for the material, and had almost decided not to spend the small (but precious!) time available for reading, on Murakami. Your comments will likely have an impact on this decision…sounds like a compelling read.