To the Post World War Japanese Shores with Mieko

My Mum laughed when she saw this tiny book by my bedside.

"Going back to childhood, are we?" she asked me, her eyes twinkling with mirth.

Well, Fellow Readers, let me tell you, sometimes it's good to go back to childhood, especially if you've been doing some heavy duty reading like me, flirting incessantly with Chaucer one day, Tennyson the next and T. S. Eliot off and on.

It's good to sit back, read something and not think about Freudian psychoanalysis or the meanings of fabliau, morality plays and miracle stories, the beginning of a women's college in London because of the poem you are holding in your hands, the era defining geniuses or the literary movements that changed the world.

It's good to pick up something simple, uncomplicated and just read: on the swing,in bed, after tending to the cantankerous rose bush in your garden and then sit back with the warm fuzzy feelings of friendship, hope and feeling inspired.

And if this little book, that was written to acquaint American children with the atrocities of WW II serves that purpose, why the hell not!

South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Actual Rating: 3.5

There's no coherent way of reviewing this book and to quite an extent that is explicable because it is a Murakami book. However, more pronounced than the elements of magical realism are the elements of grief, loss, the thirst for something that never was nor will be yours.

I think what I liked more about this book was how well I could relate to its philosophies and to some bits of this story. Certain parts of it made me feel like Murakami had taken a peek inside my head and then written things down.

What is, however, the weak part of the story is how it ends. I found myself wanting a better explanation for why Yukiko forgives her husband and also for why exactly Hajime was how he was. Izumi's story too remains rather untold and unfinished and I found myself wanting more in the episode when Hajime finally comes face to face with her.

As for the story itself, I won't describe it as exactly beautiful and certainly not Murakami's best. It's a lot like Casablanca but then again the writing is almost unexpectedly dull at the places it could have been more poignant and unexpectedly poetic in other places.

Overall, it's a story you must read not for the plot but for the philosophy.

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The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This little beauty is like a Tim Burton story: it's strange, it's dark, it's funny and beautiful and you don't quite understand the narrator and his mind. Kinda makes me confident that there's nobody like Murakami when it comes to crazy, quirky stories!

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Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think the best part about this book is how it made me feel like I was a young girl sold to an okiya myself! (You were right, Gayatri!) Also, I was surprised that an American man wrote it instead of a Japanese woman who would have really been a geisha because not even for one minute does it seem like you're reading something a man would have written from a woman's point of view. It sounds like a memoir of a geisha like she would have written herself and is so believable that quite often I had to remind myself that it is fictional!

I think Arthur Golden is one of those rare authors who have the ability to 'put not only themselves but also the reader in someone else's shoes.' An amazing book to read!

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With Kafka in Japan

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Phew! About time I give this book a decent review.

I think 'Kafka on the Shore' is that rare, one-in-a-million book that I, personally, will always cherish.


The biggest reason for that is I lost my pet dog of 17 years(yes! I'm not kidding you; he was 1995 born!) just hours after Mr. Nakata passed away in the book. So, more than anything else, this book was with me like a friend when I was at my emotionally worst. The pages of my copy bear my tears, I slept with it for a fortnight after my pet died and all that while, the only thing that kept me from being a complete, miserable, incurable emotional wreck was the whole 'Entrance Stone' part.

Now, some of you must be wondering why the death of a pet was so hard for me? 'It was only a dog and a very old dog, at that!' you'd say. Well, have you ever had a pet? And had him since you were 4 till you turned 21?

But wait! Where is this going? This is supposed to be a decent review on
'Kafka on the Shore'
and not on 'How the Reader lost her Dog' . So, I'll stop mourning and focus!




'Kafka on the Shore'
is one of the BEST books you'll ever read. It's deep, it's profound and it is simply beyond the scope of definition or description! It's intriguing, disturbing and sometimes it will just leave you confused! But, trust me, it's one of a kind! You'll never read anything like this and I bet you would have never read anything like this before.

Take the best of writers from around the globe, mix them and you get
'Kafka on the Shore'
. I found my favourites in Murakami's style of writing; you'll find yours!

It's an extremely powerful book,
'Kafka on the Shore'
! It has that rare ability to haunt you even weeks after you've finished reading it. Only an extremely foolish person would disapprove of it! You cannot have read it and not liked it just like you couldn't come across a riddle or a mystery and not be intrigued by it!

The book is truly magical in every sense of the word! From the first page onwards, it's like a pair on invisible hands grab you and keep you glued to the book.

I mean, come on! I sleep with it under my pillow every night even now! I can almost hear Miss Saeki singing
'Kafka on the Shore'
. I still have spells when all I can think of is the Entrance and the song, talking cats and fish raining from the sky!

I honestly owe a LOT to Haruki Murakami for this book and in return, Mr. Murakami, you owe me some serious explanations, the lack of which made me give this excellent book just 4 stars!

1. What was Kafka Tamura's real name?
2. Was Sakura really his sister?
3. Why was Nakata like he was? What went wrong with him on the hill?


I'm still wondering and I think I will continue to do so until I am on the other side of the Entrance Stone!



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