book review

i'd just finished reading South of the border, west of the sun by Haruki Murakami. it was an engaging read. sensual, tragic, foolhardy, and sometimes almost too cruel.

not quite sure if that's how most japanese authors write but i recall reading Kazuo Ishiguro's A Pale View of Hills it also ended without a conclusion and left out many characters' developments and it's quite frustrating.

the hero is hajime, and the story weaves through his life beginning from his childhood days where he meets polio-stricken shimamoto and the love of his life whom he never forgets. during his teens, he betrays his only girlfriend, izumi and later, when he's married to yukiko and is a father of two, reunites with shimamoto and has a passionate affair with her. he's just messed up.

but what i didn't understand was if the return of shimamoto and izumi were even real to speak. many times, the author tries to create eerie scenarios, descriptions and facts of the two characters that just seemed too un-human (like ghosts): shimamoto only appears only rainy nights. and izumi was described with "a face of void" and "children are afraid of her". and there are also disappearing acts: money, people, and things. strange.

parts of it i love: the sex bit and at some times, the deranged mind of the hajime. but what happened to him at the end is unknown. i'm not even sure if he'd died or that he'd started anew with his wife and family. i'm lost.