South of the Border, West of the Sun

by Haruki Murakami | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0099448572 Global Overview for this book
Registered by LastEdition on 2/2/2006
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5 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by LastEdition on Thursday, February 2, 2006
Amazon.co.uk Review
In South of the Border, West of the Sun the arc of an average man's life from childhood to middle age with its attendant rhythms of success and disappointment becomes the kind of exquisite literary conundrum that is Haruki Murakami's trademark. The plot is simple: Hajime meets and falls in love with a girl in elementary school but loses touch with her when his family moves to another town. He drifts through high school, college and his 20s before marrying and settling into a career as a successful bar owner. Then his childhood sweetheart returns weighed down with secrets:
"When I went back into the bar, a glass and ashtray remained where she had been. A couple of lightly crushed cigarette butts were lined up in the ashtray, a faint trace of lipstick on each. I sat down and closed my eyes. Echoes of music faded away, leaving me alone. In that gentle darkness, the rain continued to fall without a sound".

Murakami eschews the fantastic elements that appear in many of his other novels and stories, and readers hoping for a glimpse of the "Sheep Man" will be disappointed. Yet South of the Border, West of the Sun is as rich and mysterious as anything he has written. It is above all a complex, moving and honest meditation on the nature of love distilled into a work with the crystal clarity of a short story. A Nat King Cole song, a figure on a crowded street, a face pressed against a car window, a handful of ashes drifting down a river to the sea are woven together into a story that refuses to arrive at a simple conclusion. The classic love triangle may seem like a hackneyed theme for a writer as talented as Murakami but in his quietly dazzling way he bends us to his own unique geometry. –
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Registered in honor of the Asian Swap on Relay.com and chosen by MissBagPuss.

Released 18 yrs ago (2/6/2006 UTC) at Postal Release in per Post, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases

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Off to MissBagpuss - enjoy!

Journal Entry 3 by MissBagpuss from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, February 8, 2006
arrived this morning - thanks

EDITED 3rd March:

a deceptively slim book, which manages to pack in enough content, longing, lust, love and energy to fill a book three times the size.

at times almost whimsical, at times highly emotional, a fast but satisfying read with a suitably unsatisfying ending, as only lost or unrequited love can have.

i'm sending this as a surprise rabck to cdnbluerose because it's on her wishlist and i want to thank her for co-ordinating my m-bag. thanks rosie!

Journal Entry 4 by CdnBlueRose from Steinbach, Manitoba Canada on Thursday, March 9, 2006
Arrived today and yes! as a complete surprise!! Thank you very much MissBagPuss!!

Journal Entry 5 by CdnBlueRose from Steinbach, Manitoba Canada on Sunday, May 28, 2006
WOW! I read this compact novel yesterday and I was much more impressed that I ever thought I would be.... This is a beautiful little novel, very well written, and it spoke directly to me, putting to paper exactly what it feels to realize you are not with the one you love when it is too late for that to change.... heartbreaking...

Will soon be traveling to MissyZ - reserved for her from Asian Swap #2.

Journal Entry 6 by CdnBlueRose from Steinbach, Manitoba Canada on Sunday, June 4, 2006
Mailing out to noumena12 for MissyZ's m-bag - thanks noumena!

Journal Entry 7 by noumena12 from Dayton, Ohio USA on Thursday, June 8, 2006
Received today for MissyZ's m-bag

Journal Entry 8 by MissyZ from Clapham, Greater London United Kingdom on Wednesday, October 25, 2006
With me in the UK via my M-Bag - thanks!

Journal Entry 9 by MissyZ from Clapham, Greater London United Kingdom on Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Whoops - I'm a little behind with journalling, what with the Christmas break 'n all...
I finished this before Christmas and have to say it was one of my favourite reads of 2006 - very well written and a touching story. :)

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