I received a copy of this from a friend who is a great fan of Murakami's works..With Murakami, either you love his work or you don't...
The story derives its thread from the Kobe earthquake in 1995..The country is hit by an earthquake devastating lives, disrupting normality...Away from Kobe in a calm household of Komura, his wife is stuck to the television for five days straight watching the live telecasts of debris and ruins of the natural calamity..Komura is unsure if his voice reaches her, she seems to be frozen in that position, nor she eats...On the sixth she leavs him for good with a note ..She states that Komura might have been a handsome and a good husband but living with him is equivalent to live with "a chunk of air"....He is taken aback, he never expected such a thing in his wilder dreams,he was quite a charmer while his wife was plain..But her absence shatters him, he decides to take a break from his work.. Komura's friend suggests him to take a trip to Hokkaido to his sister Keiko so that he could deliver a small parcel in person..He takes up the journey as he doesn't know what else to do... At the airport of Hokkaido Keiko receives him along with her friend Shimao.. From there on its a story of self realization of that "chunk of air" in Komura..
Like all Murakami's works there are flakes of hypothetical, impalpable elements that has to be studied beyond the superficial converstaion and plot of U.FO in Kushiro...The conversations between Komura ,Keiko and Shimao carries the essence of the whole story...It is here he is told
"You need to lighten up and learn to enjoy life a little more. I mean, think about it: tomorrow there could be an earthquake; you could be kidnapped by aliens; you could be eaten by a bear. Nobody knows what's going to happen."
Murakami's work never appealed to me highly, though I liked them I have been a fan of his works..I tried reading Killing the mocking bird few years back and gave it a try later because few of my friends were raving about it...But for me it never was a personal favorite..This short story is like a prologue to another work of Murakami called After the quake..If you love this one you would definitely go for it..
The story derives its thread from the Kobe earthquake in 1995..The country is hit by an earthquake devastating lives, disrupting normality...Away from Kobe in a calm household of Komura, his wife is stuck to the television for five days straight watching the live telecasts of debris and ruins of the natural calamity..Komura is unsure if his voice reaches her, she seems to be frozen in that position, nor she eats...On the sixth she leavs him for good with a note ..She states that Komura might have been a handsome and a good husband but living with him is equivalent to live with "a chunk of air"....He is taken aback, he never expected such a thing in his wilder dreams,he was quite a charmer while his wife was plain..But her absence shatters him, he decides to take a break from his work.. Komura's friend suggests him to take a trip to Hokkaido to his sister Keiko so that he could deliver a small parcel in person..He takes up the journey as he doesn't know what else to do... At the airport of Hokkaido Keiko receives him along with her friend Shimao.. From there on its a story of self realization of that "chunk of air" in Komura..
Like all Murakami's works there are flakes of hypothetical, impalpable elements that has to be studied beyond the superficial converstaion and plot of U.FO in Kushiro...The conversations between Komura ,Keiko and Shimao carries the essence of the whole story...It is here he is told
"You need to lighten up and learn to enjoy life a little more. I mean, think about it: tomorrow there could be an earthquake; you could be kidnapped by aliens; you could be eaten by a bear. Nobody knows what's going to happen."
Murakami's work never appealed to me highly, though I liked them I have been a fan of his works..I tried reading Killing the mocking bird few years back and gave it a try later because few of my friends were raving about it...But for me it never was a personal favorite..This short story is like a prologue to another work of Murakami called After the quake..If you love this one you would definitely go for it..
Book 4 on short story reading challenge
Nice review and I have not read any books in this setting. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGreat commentary as always VB!
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I really enjoy stories that involve these odd, quirky elements to them.