29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply Surreal, February 1, 2003
Ever since I first read Murakami starting with
"Sputnik Sweetheart" I am hooked on to everything he
writes. I do not know what he does to me but everytime
I read what he writes - its like a tidal wave lashing
over me and I cannot help it. I love the feeling. I
cherish it for a long long time. South o the Border
begins with a 37-year old narrator Hajimme - the owner
of an upswanky jaz bar in Japan talking about his life
- from where it began to where it is.
A Japanese love story; indeed, a Japanese Casablanca:
it doesn't sound too promising, does it? But ignore
the blurb - they've got to get people to pick it up
after all - and dip a toe into the world of Haruki
Murakami. This is, perhaps, the perfect place to start
for newcomers - no wells; no sheep; no slightly
off-kilter worlds, just a simple, if morally complex
story exquisitely told. It's the prose stye (insert
here a discourse on the art of translation, but the
voice is Murakami) which will seduce you, not the
narrator - he is morally ambivalent, and not in a good
way. In the hands of such an accomplished writer,
however, one is easily drawn in to Hajime's world.
Hajime would like to be a good man, but he has
impulses; impulses which cause him to damage those he
loves. The simple tale revolves around his childhood
sweetheart finding him and endangering everything he's
worked for. So far, so predictable; but the way in
which Murakami teases out Hajime's character, and
faces up to the moral dilemmas without judging his
motives - they are simply laid out for us to observe -
produces a true feeling of uncertainty in the reader,
and compels you through the story wishing that both
outcomes were possible. A cunningly crafted tale,
carried off with thoughtful aplomb, and the ideal
jumping-off point for further exploration of this most
intriguing of authors.
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43 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unforgettable, that's what you are., July 22, 2001
This romantic novel left me stunned, staring at the ground, picking out patterns, wondering about the consequences of everything I have done in my life. Unlike Jay Gatsby, I've never thought you could repeat the past, but that hasn't kept me from dwelling on it, pondering the wake of destruction left by my own dreams. Reading this book I felt like Hajime was at times my Japanese twin, living an unaccountably successful and comfortable life haunted by obsessions more animated than reality itself. Sometimes I fall into a trance - a girl in the car next to me reminds me of an old love, a phrase overheard takes me to a place thirty years ago - and I can't really lift myself from it for several days. My wife asks what's wrong and there's no way to explain. It's like a dream that sticks to you all day long or a name that's on the tip of your tongue all weekend but you just can't remember it. That was the experience of South of the Border, West of the Moon, a surprisingly flat and simple story with perfectly chosen oddities and enough specificity to create an unforgettable world. You know the way some short stories are exquisite jewels perfectly set? That's this book.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a small masterpiece, February 14, 1999
After the translated works of Birnbaum and Rubin, it is a revelation to see how someone else translate and interpret Murakami's work (this does not mean that the writer of this review doesn't acknowledge the fantastic translations of both translators) . No doubt, Philip Gabriel has done a fantastic job with his translation of this book.
This story is about a middle-age man who in his teenage years finds and then loses the girl, only to meet her again years later. During these years he has hurted a lot of people, including himself. Now, happily married, settled and being a succesfull businessman, it's time to set things straight. Or not? When the woman he once loved (and still loves) enters his bar, things are beginning to change. Will he sacrifice everything for this woman, including his beloved wife and daugthers?
Unlike Dance, Dance, Dance or The Wind Up, this story is more down to earth. Nobody is perfect. Even if you live a happy married life. Unconditionally love doesn't exist, even when you know who you're true love is. Questions always remain and people have to accept this fact. Again Murakami succeeds in letting the readers to think and reconsider again what "life", "love" or "marriage" mean. The answers on these questions remain vague. But isn't that what is all about?
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