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South of the Border, West of the Sun cover art

South of the Border, West of the Sun

Written by: Haruki Murakami, Philip Gabriel - translator
Narrated by: Eric Loren
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Publisher's Summary

South of the Border, West of the Sun is the beguiling story of a past rekindled, and one of Haruki Murakami’s most touching novels.

Hajime has arrived at middle age with a loving family and an enviable career, yet he feels incomplete. When a childhood friend, now a beautiful woman, shows up with a secret from which she is unable to escape, the fault lines of doubt in Hajime’s quotidian existence begin to give way. Rich, mysterious, and quietly dazzling, in South of the Border, West of the Sun the simple arc of one man’s life becomes the exquisite literary terrain of Murakami’s remarkable genius.

©2010 Haruki Murakami (P)2013 Random House Audio

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A bit disappointing

It was my second Murakami’s book. He developed his main character into a neurotic, lost and immature boy madly in love or even poisoned by it. I definitely preferred, much longer, IQ 82.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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Such a disappointment

I was very excited to read another Murakami novel. But, this book really let me down. It’s boring as hell and I hate it for the same reason I hate The Great Gatsby: I feel no sympathy for a man who’s biggest problem is a lack of fulfillment in the face of being rich and successful.

Basically, the main character’s is this stand in for the author, indulging in all of Murakami’s favorite stuff. Jazz, food, Americana, cocktails. And he’s fabulously well-off, with a dream job, fancy cars, other job offers and money just waiting at his doorstep, good kids, a wife who loves him despite being kind of an elitist jackass, and plenty of disposable women to satisfy his sexual cravings (barf). Yet, THAT’S NOT ENOUGH! He’s so torn! This amazing life he has is all for not if he can’t be with the girl he had a crush on when he was 12!

Sorry, the whole “my life is almost TOO great” schtick is tiresome.

Like, there’s more than enough stories out there plumbing the depths of male psyche. I don’t need yet another one where I’m supposed to try and be understanding of the deep emotional reality of a man who manipulates the people around him, has buckets of money, has been handed everything he needs, etc. I’ve been there and done that.

American literary convention has forced me to witness that plot line any countless number of times. And honestly, I can try and be as sympathetic as possible, but there’s a systemic problem underlying all this. One that regularly expects rich men to be offered sympathy as a matter of course, because that’s just how we should function as humans when presented with human stories. But, poor people and women are kinda just ignored in most literary canon. Sure, you should maybe show them sympathy as well! That is if you manage find a good book to read about them. But you likely won’t get many of them in your English classes and history classes.

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4 people found this helpful