Killing me softly

Spanish Edition.

South of the Border, West of the Sun  (Al sur de la frontera, al oeste del Sol Translation by Lourdes Porta) by Haruki Murakami

It is all about the mood with Murakami, isn’t it?

This is one of the books that aren’t so heavy on fantasy as most are, but there is always that ethereal quality, the mood that grabs you and lingers, some melancholy that you can’t shake. 

Here it is the kind of protagonist Murakami normally writes, passive and introspective till it bursts; some people don’t like this kind of nature and the lack of action or aggressiveness in life that many are fond of, but aren’t we usually more like this? Regular people I mean, but not so regular at all, because he gets what he wants, it seems, but there are these holes in his life, questions lacking an answer or even the question itself, and even if you can’t identify with a life like that or being as selfish as him, maybe you can with the holes, the disconnection or the state of mind, there is always some kind of mirror that gets you, a mood that resonates within, not just some story you read.

This book is in my read again list, it’s been a while since I read it, the details are not fresh, but the grip I got still is, I find myself thinking about it many times even if I don’t recall most of it, I have a terrible memory, hate this, but hey… this makes reading again some much fun.

Fun fact. If you read this in Spanish as I have, you notice right away the translation work on Porta, some books seem uneven because of a different translator, Porta’s are the best.