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pearlinventory 's review for:
South of the Border, West of the Sun
by Haruki Murakami
The reason I give this book a 2/5 ⭐ is because of how perfectly it pisses me off. Makes me want to understand this messed up character even more.
How do I put into words what this book made me feel? Is this really how some men live—fully self-aware yet unwilling to change, indifferent to who gets hurt along the way? Why, at the end of the day, does a man like this still come out on top? A shameless, hollow man, no less. And why do women gravitate toward him?
This book just feels like it's a confession of a Japanese man who DGAF about anything but is also the most selfish person ever.
Most of the story is just this man having explicit encounters with multiple women. He’s a cheater, and even his father-in-law encourages it. Somehow, cheating is fine, but emotional cheating isn’t (at least in Japan). I don’t understand why men and women just seem to accept this.
Hajime has such a strange mind; I want to put it in an MRI, scan it, and study it. What’s going on with you, man? And why are you charming so many women? What do you even have that’s so special? How do you feel so empty, and at 37, still try to fill it with just sex?
This genre is the opposite of typical fictional men. The protagonist irritates me because he’s so dull—the only intriguing thing about him is his awareness that he’s just an empty shell, filling himself with even more emptiness. I want to read more of this author’s books just to ground myself in reality. It’s an oxymoron, in a way.
The book starts by talking about how selfish only children are, and ends up proving it. Hajime (protagonist) is an only child, and Shimamoto his childhood bestfriend is an only child too. They have a beautiful friendship as kids and he breaks off contact with her after she moves out because he's a coward. Fifteen years later, he never contacts the first woman he fell in love with because - for the plot,duh.
This book shows a man's self fulfilling prophecy, if he fears something but does nothing to change it. He WILL destroy his own life.
I have so many questions about the plot. The envelope of money just disappeared along with Shimamoto—for some random, unknown reason? Why does she live like an undercover spy? Shimamoto promised she’d tell him everything about the past fifteen years, but then she just ran away and killed herself? She hid everything from him? She said she didn’t have a job and never worked, yet she somehow afforded surgery on her leg, bought new watches daily, dressed in expensive clothes, and traveled. And he didn’t ask her even once what she did for a living? Is she meant to be mysterious, or is he just clueless? What was even the point of this story? What is happening?
Throughout the book, he wants to be seen as this special guy with something unique about him, and he sees something special about girls that aren't so pretty to look at, dates them, sleeps with them, cheats on them even after he knows the damage it causes. He wants even his mistresses to see something special in him? So all the only-child theories were true? Kids like him and Shimamoto are indeed selfish?
Hajime and Shimamoto are such irritating characters, yet I want to read more from this author. It’s like a love-hate relationship—I love how disgusting this book is. How can an author scratch this itch in my brain so perfectly? I’m completely, perfectly annoyed.
If I dig too deep into the psyche of Hajime, his relationship with all the women in his life are a direct projection of what he thinks of himself.
Shimamoto - The only child - his bestfriend who understood him like no other
Izumi - The middle child - His first girlfriend in high-school, first kiss.
Izumi's cousin - who's also an only child - He cheated on Izumi with her, shamelessly, repeatedly.
Yukiko - His wife when he's an adult.
He cheats on his wife with Shimamoto (and other mistresses who didn't have emotional flings with so he didn't regret it)
He only meets Izumi again at the end of the book, and she is scary to him, not having even one expression on her face, she hasn't forgiven him at all, decades later.
Maybe Izumi is the proper reflection of what's inside him? A hollow pit? Maybe internally he can never forgive himself for hurting other people? But that's just my assumption because he barely feels bad for anyone. He knows his actions hurt people and he does it anyway.
He has a thing where he only goes after the "not so pretty girls" and finds something special about them, that's probably what he thinks of himself too. He ain't all that. He knows. He admits it around the end of the book, that he loves his wife because he doesn't like being lonely.
I can only assume about such a hollow character, because I'm begging the author to tell me what he wanted me to understand when he wrote this book.
How do I put into words what this book made me feel? Is this really how some men live—fully self-aware yet unwilling to change, indifferent to who gets hurt along the way? Why, at the end of the day, does a man like this still come out on top? A shameless, hollow man, no less. And why do women gravitate toward him?
This book just feels like it's a confession of a Japanese man who DGAF about anything but is also the most selfish person ever.
Most of the story is just this man having explicit encounters with multiple women. He’s a cheater, and even his father-in-law encourages it. Somehow, cheating is fine, but emotional cheating isn’t (at least in Japan). I don’t understand why men and women just seem to accept this.
Hajime has such a strange mind; I want to put it in an MRI, scan it, and study it. What’s going on with you, man? And why are you charming so many women? What do you even have that’s so special? How do you feel so empty, and at 37, still try to fill it with just sex?
This genre is the opposite of typical fictional men. The protagonist irritates me because he’s so dull—the only intriguing thing about him is his awareness that he’s just an empty shell, filling himself with even more emptiness. I want to read more of this author’s books just to ground myself in reality. It’s an oxymoron, in a way.
The book starts by talking about how selfish only children are, and ends up proving it. Hajime (protagonist) is an only child, and Shimamoto his childhood bestfriend is an only child too. They have a beautiful friendship as kids and he breaks off contact with her after she moves out because he's a coward. Fifteen years later, he never contacts the first woman he fell in love with because - for the plot,duh.
This book shows a man's self fulfilling prophecy, if he fears something but does nothing to change it. He WILL destroy his own life.
I have so many questions about the plot. The envelope of money just disappeared along with Shimamoto—for some random, unknown reason? Why does she live like an undercover spy? Shimamoto promised she’d tell him everything about the past fifteen years, but then she just ran away and killed herself? She hid everything from him? She said she didn’t have a job and never worked, yet she somehow afforded surgery on her leg, bought new watches daily, dressed in expensive clothes, and traveled. And he didn’t ask her even once what she did for a living? Is she meant to be mysterious, or is he just clueless? What was even the point of this story? What is happening?
Throughout the book, he wants to be seen as this special guy with something unique about him, and he sees something special about girls that aren't so pretty to look at, dates them, sleeps with them, cheats on them even after he knows the damage it causes. He wants even his mistresses to see something special in him? So all the only-child theories were true? Kids like him and Shimamoto are indeed selfish?
Hajime and Shimamoto are such irritating characters, yet I want to read more from this author. It’s like a love-hate relationship—I love how disgusting this book is. How can an author scratch this itch in my brain so perfectly? I’m completely, perfectly annoyed.
If I dig too deep into the psyche of Hajime, his relationship with all the women in his life are a direct projection of what he thinks of himself.
Shimamoto - The only child - his bestfriend who understood him like no other
Izumi - The middle child - His first girlfriend in high-school, first kiss.
Izumi's cousin - who's also an only child - He cheated on Izumi with her, shamelessly, repeatedly.
Yukiko - His wife when he's an adult.
He cheats on his wife with Shimamoto (and other mistresses who didn't have emotional flings with so he didn't regret it)
He only meets Izumi again at the end of the book, and she is scary to him, not having even one expression on her face, she hasn't forgiven him at all, decades later.
Maybe Izumi is the proper reflection of what's inside him? A hollow pit? Maybe internally he can never forgive himself for hurting other people? But that's just my assumption because he barely feels bad for anyone. He knows his actions hurt people and he does it anyway.
He has a thing where he only goes after the "not so pretty girls" and finds something special about them, that's probably what he thinks of himself too. He ain't all that. He knows. He admits it around the end of the book, that he loves his wife because he doesn't like being lonely.
I can only assume about such a hollow character, because I'm begging the author to tell me what he wanted me to understand when he wrote this book.