South of the Border, West of the Sun

Just finished reading a book by Haruki Murakami, "South of the Border, West of the Sun". This is the second of his books that I have read, the first being "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World". Again, I am amazed at his writing abilities, and the feeling of being flooded with emotions/thoughts/experiences when reading his books. I went online to read some of the reviews, and one of them wrote: "South of the Border refers to a famous song, and the lyric represents a longing for exoticism and escape. West of the Sun, as Shimamoto explains, describes a madness that effects Siberian farmers, causing them to walk towards the land west of the setting sun, forgetting sleep, food and water, until they die. These two notions perfectly express Hajime's destructive desires." (source: http://writeronwriter.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/south-of-the-border-west-of-the-sun-haruki-murakami/)

I think this is a very insightful statement, and on hindsight, it may also applies to Shimamoto. Again, the afterthoughts of reading a book by Haruki Murakami never fails to impress me on the depth of his writings and the trains of thoughts that follow after reading.

My take on the book is that maybe the characters in the story relates to most of us. There is a Shimamoto, a Izumi and a Yukiko in our lives. Shimamoto is our puppy love, Izumi is someone whom we hurt, and Yukiko is someone who we are with.

Or in another sense, there is someone whom we love, someone who love us, and someone who we end up with. Hopefully it will be the same person..

I particularly like the last few chapters when the Hajime is swarmed with thoughts of Shimamoto, and then when after he saw Izumi at a traffic junction, the images of Shimamoto started to fade away. I think this is the author's subtle way of implying that the guilt of hurting Izumi reminded Hajime that he should not continue to make another mistake and turn Yukiko into another Izumi.

Very good book, and I look forward to reading another Haruki Murakami's work!