South of the Border, West of the Sun: A Novel
by Haruki Murakami

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Book Reviews of South of the Border, West of the Sun: A Novel

Book Review: If Holden Caulfield was Japanese...
Summary: 3 Stars

South of the Border, West of the Sun appears to be an empirical memoir narrated by Hajime about his life. It begins with his childhood and emphasizes his friendship with his contemporary friend Shimamoto. The two characters share many interests, but above all they both are "only-children." As is the case with many childhood friendships, when Hajime moves to another city, their friendship withers away and they never see each other again. The story continues chronicling Hajime's life and development. After a devastating relationship with his girlfriend Izumi, Hajime's development stops. He finds that he is unable to divest himself of the guilt of destroying another human being.

There are many themes in South of the Border, West of the Sun. One main theme is that perhaps life is full of uncertainty. Another main theme is that one should live for the moment and not in the past. The past traps Hajime in a monotonous life style and steals "his twenties". Hajime struggles many times with this concept. He cannot bring himself to yield to the moment. But ultimately all of Hajime's problems and Murakami's themes stem from Hajime's lack of self-identity.

The novel ends up like a mixed bag. Murakami never bores the reader with endless paragraphs of description and the novel maintains a rather brisk pace. There were three types of paragraphs: dialogue, actions, and thoughts. Each went very quickly, but the paragraphs about Hajime's thoughts were at times unoriginal and uninspired. Suddenly though, Murakami seizes the moment and writes something that is beautiful especially when he writes about disappointment and death from which title originates. And unfortunately, this comes at the end of the novel.

The impartiality of the narrator does not help the story for the main reason that the impression left upon the reader at the end of the novel is that Hajime is on the path towards character change. Hajime realizes who he is and therefore, finds the solution to teenage angst. But the style of narration argues against that, and if the style of narration is correct, then the protagonist lacks any character arch. Another interesting thing regarding the narration, is the subtle change at the end of the novel. Murakami shifts from his description and dialogue, to a dialogue heavy transcript. Before, his ideas came in description (actions and thoughts) paragraphs. His ideas become significantly more effective after the change.

Perhaps in Japan the "American" youth character and plot has not been over used since its conception in Huckleberry Finn, but nevertheless for an American reader the story lacks the ever important twists and reversals over the portrayal of common themes, characterization, and plot. Unfortunately, for a novel that contains beautiful moments, it invalidates it as a fresh and influential piece of literature.

Summary of South of the Border, West of the Sun: A Novel

When I went back into the bar, a glass and ashtray remained where she had been. A couple of lightly crushed cigarette butts were lined up in the ashtray, a faint trace of lipstick on each. I sat down and closed my eyes. Echoes of music faded away, leaving me alone. In that gentle darkness, the rain continued to fall without a sound.

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