“Loving someone is like having a mental illness that’s not covered by health insurance.”
– from “On a Stone Pillow” in First Person Singular by Haruki Murakami
Tag: murakami
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Dec 16 2018
Life after…
Like you’re walking along as always, sure you’re on the right path, when the path suddenly vanishes, and you’re facing an empty space, no sense of direction, no clue where to go, and you just keep trudging along. That’s what it feels like.
– from Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2018/life-after/
Oct 28 2011
Love
“If you can love someone with your whole heart, even one person, then there’s salvation in life. Even if you can’t get together with that person.”
— from 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2011/love/
Feb 13 2007
a psalm of happenstance
…there’s a rule I always follow when I don’t know what to do…If you have to choose between something that has form and something that doesn’t, go for the one without form. That’s my rule. Whenever I run into a wall I follow that rule, and it always works out. Even if it’s hard going at the time.
–from “Chance Traveler” by Haruki Murakami
She left what she knew was home…for a place foreign to her heart. She knew this when she left…that her heart would never give her peace there. But she is there nonetheless.
He knows her heart. It is not his…it was never meant to be. It doesn’t stop his heart from shedding tears for her embrace. He is where her heart is. He wants to keep it safe for her love.
Sometimes they wonder…what is over that next mountain? What will that other country will bring? She travels there seeking it, while he sits at home…just dreaming of his love.
He wants to take a risk…to sail to that place in his dreams. Where love and God and he are all together. Where she has her heart and her love and her God.
For a moment they forget all this though. They fall, each in their own ways. Finding God through making love (or at least trying to).
We think there should be some form to it all. Dating, Marriage, Children, Death. But that is where we are wrong.
God like Love has no form. It is unique to each of our whole selves. God, You and I. A union of physical, spiritual and sensual lives.
It is:
Love
Sex
God
Us
Whatever the risk, we can do no less.
But give everything.
Even when we know it will only be a brief moment.
—for A and A
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2007/a-psalm-of-happenstance/
Oct 16 2006
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
It’s interesting reading Murakami’s short stories. They are like individual dreams that you wake up with before you want to. At least that’s how I often feel. But then even his longer works tend to finish before I want them to.
This collection is interesting, because it has some of his earliest stories as well as his latest stories. Most of the time it is easy to figure out which is which. His later work is much more polished than the earlier work.
My favorite works in this collection are “Tony Takitani,” “Chance Traveler,” “The Kidney Shaped Stone That Moves Every Day” and “A Shinagawa Monkey.”
I’ve read through all of Murakami’s fiction that have been translated into English. My favorite novels were Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the Shore.
Now to figure out something new to read.
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Oct 09 2006
Dance Dance Dance
I finished the “sequel” to The Wild Sheep Chase last Thursday (yup, two Murakami novels in one week). Dance Dance Dance takes place four and a half years after the conclusion of The Wild Sheep Chase. There is definitely more “meat” to this novel than the earlier one. It also helped fulfill that desire I had after the earlier novel for more story.
Reading Murakami is like reading a dream. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it feels like reality and sometimes its so bizarre that it surprises even the wildest imaginations. Time often disappears leaving only shadows of memory.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2006/dance-dance-dance/
Oct 04 2006
A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel
This was a quick easy read. Murakami’s first book published in English, it is not near as complex as his current stuff. However, there is still much to be had from this novel. The style of this book foreshadows where his style will go in his later works.
All and all, I don’t have much to say about the novel itself. While I still enjoyed it a lot, it is probably my least favorite of his novels (and the only one I have left to read, is the “sequel” to this one). This would make a great traveling book.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2006/a-wild-sheep-chase-a-novel/
Sep 04 2006
More Murakami
I just wrapped up “South of the Border, West of the Sun” by Haruki Murakami. As it has been with all the previous novels, I loved it. This novel is perhaps the most linear of the novels I’ve read so far. An interesting tid-bit about this novel: Murakami wrote this book while he lived in America for a few years during the 90s.
When I read, I normally have my moleskine somewhere nearby, and I often write down passages that move me while I read. Here are a few from this novel that moved me:
She gazed at me steadily as I talked. Something about her expression pulled people in. It was as if–this is something I thought of only later, of course–she were gently peeling back one layer after another that covered a person’s heart, a very sensual feeling. Her lips changed ever so slightly with each change in her expression, and I could catch a glimpse deep within her eyes of a faint light, like a tiny candly flickering in the dark, narrow room.
*****
I stood there a long time, gazing at the rainswept streets. Once again I was a twelve-year-old boy staring for hours at the rain. Look at the rain long enough, with no thoughts in your head, and you feel your body falling loose, shaking free of the world of reality. Rain has the power to hypnotize.
*****
Her eyes were like a deep spring in the shade of cliffs, which no breeze could ever reach. Nothing moved there, everything was still. Look closely, and you could just begin to make out the scene reflected in the water’s surface.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2006/more-murakami/
Aug 31 2006
Murakami Madness
As of late, I have been obsessed with the novels of Haruki Murakami. So far I’ve read five of his novels, plus a collection of short stories. The latest was Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. As with every one of his novels so far, I wasn’t disappointed at all. This one has a bit of a sci-fi bent to it, however I wouldn’t classify this as a sci-fi novel. I hesitate to go to much into the details of the book, as I think its best to discover Murakami on one’s own. One of the things that amazes me about Murakami’s work, is that each novel is wonderful and amazing in its own special way. While there are definately themes that are constant throughout, they at least feel like they are being used in a different way.
A few of the things I like about Murakami are: music plays a big part in the lives of his characters. his novels are full of love, spirituality and encourages us to seek out the connections with others. There is room for the reader inside his stories. It is both simple and complex at the same time. Often it feels like a dream, that you could just get lost in for all eternity. And sometimes, you do.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2006/murakami-madness/
