July 23, 2024 |  Genres:  Literary Fiction   Magical Realism  

South of the Border, West of the Sun

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.

This book is like two sides of the same coin for me. Its presentation of childhood life and nostalgia is very compelling to me, and yet I feel like I can't relate as much to the middle age crisis the main character goes through (which is the large focus of the book). While I enjoy this book immensely, I'm sure I'll find it even more compelling the older I get. An excellent read overall.