South of the Border, West of the Sun

Easily in my top 10.

I've read it again & again & again. One of my most favorite ! Absolutely indispensable in your bookshelf !

I absolutely loved this book. One of the things I liked the most was being suprised by Murakami's style. This is not your typical Asian prose. It's not poetic. It is blunt, piercing, and transparent. I caught myself thinking about Camus, and L'Étranger, while reading this. Although not as tragic as the French book, I thought Haijime's feelings of nothingness and despair mirrored existentialist...more

I absolutely loved this book. One of the things I liked the most was being suprised by Murakami's style. This is not your typical Asian prose. It's not poetic. It is blunt, piercing, and transparent. I caught myself thinking about Camus, and L'Étranger, while reading this. Although not as tragic as the French book, I thought Haijime's feelings of nothingness and despair mirrored existentialist works.   hide

awesome book...loved reading it

Simply amazing. Haruki's novels always have something so special, so Haruki. He always has a way to make us fall deep into the books, lead us to something new and different, and leave us wanting more, wondering what are behind all those mysteries.

Good book until the last twenty pages, where it gets a wee bit too existentialist. But still quite through provoking.

deep and movable

I don't know why the Murakami books with virtually no supernatural activity ended up being the last ones I read. That is one of my favorite things about his other books, and it made this a bit less entertaining for me. Good book though, and definitely worth a read!

Not his very best, but excellent as usual. You keep reading to find out what kind of statement Murakami is going to make on the whole comfortable commitment vs tragic romance thing. Murakami's stories derive a lot of their power from the way he focuses in on these themes, excluding (almost) all non-essential detail. The conclusion is intelligent and real, but somehow seems a bit of a cop out...more

Not his very best, but excellent as usual. You keep reading to find out what kind of statement Murakami is going to make on the whole comfortable commitment vs tragic romance thing. Murakami's stories derive a lot of their power from the way he focuses in on these themes, excluding (almost) all non-essential detail. The conclusion is intelligent and real, but somehow seems a bit of a cop out on the moral front...   hide