Haruki Murakami

It's been a while since I've been awed by a writer. Not since Yann Martel, or Jeanette Winterson. The kind of writer that piques your curiosity and makes you wanna know who the person behind the books are. The kind of writer that makes you wanna read any imaginable book that they've written, just to get a glimpse of that person. It's kinda like dating someone new.

Haruki Murakami was an acquired taste, though. A few years back I picked up "Kafka on the shore". I ploughed through the first two or three chapters, bewildered, then returned the book to the library. One of our friends passed me "Norwegian Wood", but I didn't particularly like it either. But a month or two ago, I chanced upon another of his books on a library shelf one evening after work, when I was feeling particularly uninspired and was willing to give anything another try. Only then did I kinda get used to his style. "After Dark" was an interesting book, more for the feel of it than the ideas. I hadn't really read any proper book since I started work, and "After Dark" brought back a familiar feeling. That kinda warm, comfortable feeling you get with books.

Then a friend recommended "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle", and that book sold me out. I can't explain why I liked it. I like Murakami's matter-of-fact way of telling a story, his understated humour, and, perhaps, as one friend has said, how his works allow us to identify with the psychological isolation the protagonist feels from the rest of society. In "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle", the protagonist spends days on end by himself, and finally he finds inspiration from sitting at the bottom of a dry well. Sounds bizzare, but I really liked it cos it reminded me of how I used to spend late nights sitting in the dark by the window, or climbing out to the patio outside my room, staring at the night sky and wondering what life would be like when I grew up. Probably not as exciting as I'd imagined.

"South of the Border" and "Sputnik Sweetheart" are short novels about friendship and romantic love... the kind you could get through in a day or two. Could be that I read the stories one after the other, and alongside "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle", that I sometimes get the two stories mixed up... They're almost like stories in the same vein. And in my opinion more enjoyable than "Norwegian Wood". I kinda disagreed with Murakami's philosophy in "South of the Border", but perhaps over time I will learn to empathize with it. "Sputnik Sweetheart" was probably the most poignant love story I've read from Murakami. When I finished it I felt like the curtains had been thrown open and daylight was spilling in and despite the heartache I felt I wanted to smile.

I also picked up "Kafka on the shore" again. This time, I didn't find it difficult at all. Quite interesting how a couple of years can shape someone. I enjoyed it while I was reading it. It was just difficult to put down. And again the sense of isolation that the protagonist feels was a strong motif in the book. But when I finished it I was somehow left with a bad aftertaste in my mouth. I don't know why.

I'm now going through some of his early works. It's kinda cool to go through the early books of a beloved writer, because you get a sense of the kinda events that shape them, and the kinda themes that they're concerned about. They may be a bit more unpolished, but to me it's an inspiration, cos we all have to begin from somewhere, no matter how imperfect. Like with Yann Martel's "Self", which felt very raw and unedited, it's hard to imagine how this writer could go on to write something like "Life of Pi". But he did.

Maybe I should pick up "Norwegian Wood" again one day. Maybe by now I'd have learnt to appreciate it.