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South Of The Border, West Of The Sun

By Haruki Murakami

(178)

| eBook | 9781448104758

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Book Description

Growing up in the suburbs in post-war Japan, it seemed to Hajime that everyone but him had brothers and sisters. His sole companion was Shimamoto, also an only child. Together they spent long afternoons listening to her father's record collection. But when his family moved away, the two lost touch. Continue

Critics

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

Review-a-Day Saturday, August 18th, 2007 Voice your opinion about this review by posting a comment on the Powells.com blog South of the Border, West of the Sun: A Novel by Haruki Murakami (Almost) All Will Be Revealed A review by David Hannon "My bir ... (read full critics)

powells published on Mon, 6 Sep 2010

A Simpler, More Physical Kind of Empathy

Talking to Jay McInerney in 1992, the year South of the Border, West of the Sun was published in Japanese, Haruki Murakami said that he wasn’t so much an international writer, as a non-national writer: ‘You might call it the Japanese nature that rema ... (read full critics)

lrb published on Fri, 3 Sep 2010

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9 Reviews

A kid grows up and becomes a man. He has a few girlfriends, but feels lonely and always thinks of his first sweetheart back when they were both kids.
He becomes a successful man, has a lovely wife, two little girls and a rich and powerful father-in-law, but he does not feel really happy inside. He ... (continue)

A kid grows up and becomes a man. He has a few girlfriends, but feels lonely and always thinks of his first sweetheart back when they were both kids.
He becomes a successful man, has a lovely wife, two little girls and a rich and powerful father-in-law, but he does not feel really happy inside. He knows that his first girlfriend is living a sad and lonely life and he feels guilty because he had betrayed her with her own cousin when they where 17.
One day his childhood sweetheart comes to see him and he realizes he is madly in love with her, after all. He sneaks away from his wife a couple of times, she is not a fool and understands all, he decides to leave everything for his new-found love but she flees, never to come back again.
End of the story.

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Chiara L'Onironauta said on Mar 9, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

beautiful book about life, fate and connections...

I love this book! One of Murakami's books I really like, and think about a lot...
The key plot of this book is about meeting your childhood friend and falling for her when reunited some 25 years later, which may not sound all that exciting. Yet to me it's all about the details Murakami is able to fi ... (continue)

I love this book! One of Murakami's books I really like, and think about a lot...
The key plot of this book is about meeting your childhood friend and falling for her when reunited some 25 years later, which may not sound all that exciting. Yet to me it's all about the details Murakami is able to fill to make the characters 'live' that appeal to me most.
Like many of his books, this book is narrated in first person by the key character, Hajime and the story started with him describing his relationship with female starting from 12, when he met his first real friend Shimamoto, to when he met his wife and how that has changed his life. And how reuniting with Shimamoto some 20 years later has sent waves to his life.
To me this book is much more than a love story, it's more about connection with people, and how one thing leads to another (though fair to say almost all people Hajime became involved with were women!). Common taste in music, reading and the fact that they are both only child are all things that connected Hajime and Shimamoto in their childhood, and what they shared at 12 became something very special and treasured when they reunited in their mid thirties. Even though Hajime literally knew nothing more about Shimamoto since she was 12, he was so attracted to Shimamoto because of the past and what he knew about her didn't really matter. On the other hand, Hajime is now a married man and a father of two and also he arguably owes very much of his success with his jazz bar to his father-in-law. Where does that leave him?
If one is looking for answers and completeness in a story, this book is probably not for you. But if you want to allow your mind to dream on, Murakami does the trick every time, ever so effortlessly.

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olivia said on Jan 23, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Not my favourite of Murakami's. Strangely, it didn't 'suck me in' like his books usually do, it really failed to move me, engage me, like for example Kafka on the Shore - my favourite to date - did. I just picked it up from bookcrossing though, so I'm not particularly disappointed.

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natalia said on Jul 26, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

NICE. LIGHT, MAYBE TOO LIGHT FOR ME

Good writing, nice and pleasant style but for me too light, weak content, no strongest feeling. Probably I need to read something more from Harukami to get a more thourough and complete opinion. Final vote: so so

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Vlfvs.In.Fabvla said on May 29, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

No matter where I go, I still end up me. (p.208)

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Siu Leung said on Oct 11, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

what the fuck is the ending about? or just i was just too fucking stupid enough to understand?
nonetheless, the reading is enjoyable. the strange situation is that, as many readers thought, the mental status haruki depicted was surprisingly similar to them, but for my case, in the contrast, wh ... (continue)

what the fuck is the ending about? or just i was just too fucking stupid enough to understand?
nonetheless, the reading is enjoyable. the strange situation is that, as many readers thought, the mental status haruki depicted was surprisingly similar to them, but for my case, in the contrast, while it's still true, the class and situation we were living in was enormously different - instead of riding BMW and showing up around in fancy armani suit, im just during my fucked-up 30s who finding a job.

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Tszhok said on Jun 16, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback