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South of the Border, West of the Sun

Created on the 10/07/2025

Hajime, a young child in the suburbs forms a deep friendship with fellow child Shimamoto, but once she moves away Hajime is left desperately looking for someone to fill the void within his heart.

25 years pass and now he is 37 and owns a bar, he has 2 children and a wife; his life is perfectly mundane until a familiar woman--Shimamoto enters his bar, and his very being is changed forever.

This is my first Haruki Murakami book that I've read, and I plan to do so even more in the future! I enjoyed this book, despite the writing style (it's mostly some lines feeling stilted don't worry). My enjoyment didn't come much from Hajime though, but rather the several female love interests who mark each stage of his life and development. Personal favourites are Izumi and Yukiko, I really enjoy the strong feeling of listlessness that follow them, that deep feeling within their hearts that knows that they're not good enough. Yukiko's final scene with Hajime caused me a lot of turmoil, that she was always ready to be left behind and discarded.

Despite being told that Murakami writes female characters weirdly, I found myself relating to them, It gave me lots to think about and my own feelings towards myself and what I provide for others.