How long to read south of the border west of the sun?

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r/murakami

After reading Dance Dance Dance, I decided to read South of the border, west of the sun since my mother gave it to me years ago and I never had the chance to read it. But now I'm halfway through it and I find it very boring, does it get any better?

level 1

I think all are worth reading. But you aren’t wrong that it’s a bit slow. It does pick up. Not one of my favorites though. Is dance dance dance the one one you’ve read?

level 2

Yes, I've started from dance dance dance because I hadn't realised it was meant to be read after the rat's trilogy, but I really enjoyed it.

level 1

It’s one of my favorites of Murakami’s, in my top 5 for sure.

level 2

Can you go into why it's one of your favorites? I've read it and still in the marinating phase...

level 2

I just kept on reading and around page 100-120 thinks got a little more interesting, so I have decided to finish it

level 1

I thought it was his most boring, pointless book, but a lot of people have it as their favorite, so I'm open to the idea that I was way wrong.

level 1

i liked it but only because i related to the subject matter. it’s a “the one that got away” story.

level 2

Exactly my sentiments, I say it’s worth the read!

level 1

You will get very varied responses. Some love it, some hate it. It’s rather short so maybe just finish it and find out.

level 1

I seem to remember it was one of my least favourite. Rare is the Murakami that all of a sudden gets "better" plot is doled out sparingly mood in heavy amounts (which I like obviously)

level 1

I wouldn't say it's bad, but it's probably at the bottom of my personal list.

level 1

Its on the quieter personal side of Murakami, more like Norwegian Wood than 1Q84. It was the last Murakami I read, finished it about a month ago, and I really liked it.

level 1

It is my favourite Murakami book hands down but if you're halfway through it and don't enjoy it then I'm not sure if you will like the rest of it. since it's short, you may as well though right?

level 1

I like it but it isn't in my top five. I had seen it compared to Norwegian wood quite a lot online before I read it but they're completely different stories to me

level 1

I liked it as well but not one of my favorites.

level 1

Every persons Murakami journey is different so it's ok to not enjoy all of his books. Honestly sometimes it's just not the right time in a persons life to read certain Murakami books. Personally though this is one of my favorite Murakami books, top 3 for me.

level 1

It is definitely worth reading, if you ask me why ? then it’s because of the psyche of the protagonist that’s worth the entire book.the protagonist’s confession of his guilt and his consciousness finally hitting him is something that has been described in depth .we as humans think that it’s money,power,fame that will eventually satisfy our soul but guess what ?It’s our deeds that get us the eventual contentment. The story is plain but how the mind of a single child develops into an adult’s mind that eventually rides on the line of self-sabotaging is definitely worth the read.

January 10, 2020 by Vishy

I have read only two Haruki Murakami books, one nonfiction and one a collection of short stories. I thought it was time to read my first Murakami novel.

‘South of the Border, West of the Sun‘ is one of the early Murakami novels. It shows, because it is slim at around 190 pages. Murakami-San has moved on since, and these days he writes only chunksters. The story told in the book goes like this. Hajime, who is the narrator, talks about his life, from the time he was a kid. He talks about his beautiful friendship with Shimamoto in elementary school. They both are single children in their homes, which is very rare in the Japan of that time, and they bond very well together. But at some point they move to different schools and lose touch. Hajime describes his life in high school, his first girlfriend, his time in college, how he was stuck in a dead-end job, how he met a kind girl and fell in love with her and they got married and how his life changed significantly for the better after that. And one day, after twenty-five years, his childhood soulmate Shimamoto walks back into his life. The sudden, strange, unexpected changes that brings to his life, and the sudden long dormant feelings that spring up again in his heart and the crazy things he is ready to do and what happens after that and how it all ends – this is told in the rest of the book.

‘South of the Border, West of the Sun‘ is an interesting book. I thought the first chapter of the book was beautiful, exquisite, perfect. Somewhere after that the book slips and it is no longer perfect anymore. It is still interesting and I liked the story very much, and one of my favourite characters, Yukiko, makes her appearance in one of the subsequent chapters and stays there till the end, but that first chapter was perfect. It was like we were in the Garden of Eden, and then suddenly we were hurled into the real world which was complicated and messy. The story is engaging, we want to turn the pages and find out what happens next, there are beautiful passages throughout the book, the characters are beautifully sculpted, and they are beautiful, flawed and very human. The ending was interesting, even satisfying, with a perfect blend of unresolved mystery and good tying up of loose ends. I loved the cover of the book – it seems to be inspired by M.C.Escher’s famous series of paintings called ‘Circle Limit‘. Some birds in the picture appear to be smaller than the others. But in reality they are not. It is fascinating. Do google on Escher’s paintings to find out why.

I enjoyed reading ‘South of the Border, West of the Sun‘. It is a complex love story. I am the last person to read a Murakami novel, I think, but I am glad I read it.I won’t say that I have become a Murakami fan yet, because I think I love Banana Yoshimoto and Yoko Ogawa and Sayaka Murata more, but I think this is a good start and I hope to read more Murakamis in the future and see where things go.

I’ll leave you with one of my favourite passages from the book. And in case you are wondering, it is from the first chapter.

“Of all her father’s records, the one I liked best was a recording of the Liszt piano concertos : one concerto on each side. I liked it for two reasons. First of all, the record sleeve was beautiful. Second, no one I knew – with the exception of Shimamoto, of course – ever listened to Liszt’s piano concertos. The very idea excited me. I’d found a world that no one around me knew – a secret garden only I was allowed to enter. I felt elevated, lifted to another plane of existence.
And the music itself was wonderful. At first it struck me as exaggerated, artificial, even incomprehensible. Little by little, though, with repeated listenings, a vague image formed in my mind – an image that had meaning. When I closed my eyes and concentrated, the music came to me as a series of whirlpools. One whirlpool would form and out of it another would take shape. And the second whirlpool would connect up with a third. Those whirlpools, I realize now, had a conceptual, abstract quality to them. More than anything, I wanted to tell Shimamoto about them. But they were beyond ordinary language. An entirely different set of words was needed, but I had no idea what they were. What’s more, I didn’t know if what I was feeling was worth putting into words. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of the pianist now. All I recall are the colourful, vivid record sleeve and the weight of the record itself. The record was hefty and thick in a mysterious way.”

Have you read ‘South of the Border, West of the Sun‘? What do you think about it? Which is your favourite Haruki Murakami book?

How many pages is south of the border west of the sun?

How many pages is south of the border?

What is south of the border west of the sun about?

Is Shimamoto real?