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

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

ISBN13: 9780679767398
ISBN10: 0679767398
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Review-A-Day

"A dark assemblage of the wonderfully flawed characters we've come to expect from Japan's reigning master of the surreal, South of the Border is completely absorbing despite its somewhat bare premise. Hooked instantly by Murakami's offbeat dialogue and the bizarre yet sweet relationship between Hajime and Shimamoto, I had a hard time putting this book down even for a minute." David Hannon, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In South of the Border, West of the Sun, the simple arc of a man's life — with its attendant rhythms of success and disappointment — becomes the exquisite literary terrain of Haruki Murakami's most haunting work.

Born in 1951 in an affluent Tokyo suburb, Hajime — beginning in Japanese — has arrived at middle age wanting for almost nothing. The postwar years have brought him a fine marriage, two daughters, and an enviable career as the proprietor of two jazz clubs. Yet a nagging sense of inauthenticity about his success threatens Hajime's happiness. And a boyhood memory of a wise, lonely girl named Shimamoto clouds his heart.

When Shimamoto shows up one rainy night, now a breathtaking beauty with a secret from which she is unable to escape, the fault lines of doubt in Hajime's quotidian existence begin to give way. And the details of stolen moments past and present — a Nat King Cole melody, a face pressed against a window, a handful of ashes drifting downriver to the sea — threaten to undo him completely. Rich, mysterious, quietly dazzling, South of the Border, West of the Sun is Haruki Murakami's wisest and most compelling fiction.

Review:

"A wise and beautiful book." New York Times Book Review

Review:

"His most deeply moving novel." Boston Globe

Review:

"Lovely, deceptively simple....A novel of existential romance." San Francisco Chronicle

Review:

"A probing meditation on human fragility, the grip of obsession, and the impenetrable, erotically charged enigma that is the other." New York Times

Review:

"Brilliant....A mesmerizing new example of Murakami's deeply original fiction." Baltimore Sun

Review:

"In Murakami's world, secret selves and other realities are forever lurking beneath the shifting sands of the everyday. If this examination of one of those selves is less grand than we've come to expect from one of the masters of the contemporary novel, it is also more intimate and every bit as unsettling." Booklist

Review:

“A fine, almost delicate book about what is unfathomable about us.” Philadelphia Inquirer
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About the Author

Haruki Murakami lives in Oiso, Japan, just outside of Tokyo.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
monica moniker, August 20, 2012 (view all comments by monica moniker)
Having just finished reading this book, moments ago, I feel it was a very sad book. But in a comforting way. Sometimes the sadness of the human spirit can be comforting. I'm not sure how exactly that works, but that is how this book made me feel. Murakami does a masterful job of creating mystery in the supporting characters of the book. It is incredible how short the novel is, but how much life he covers in it. This book was very different from the others of his I've read, but in a way it was the most down to earth. The most "real." Even though, be the end (and throughout) the characters did seem a little fantastical anyway. A really beautiful, wise and sad book.
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megcampbell3, October 9, 2007 (view all comments by megcampbell3)
Murakami has a gift for placing his characters in situations his readers can relate to. Usually it happens entirely in the details; perhaps most of his readers haven't been in a situation where coincidence, happenstance, randomness, and the surreal all seem to collide at regular intervals (or perhaps it just goes unrecognized by most of us in life off the page); however, within the shading of his writing, even the most unusual plot twists feel familiar. Murakami's writing alone makes him a worthy way to spend time reading: it is well-balanced music, as he was inclined to say of good writing (in a short story somewhere). It almost doesn't quite matter what the storyline is with Murakami; he has a deity's understanding of human nature, and to read any of his novels or short stories is both a comfort and a mirror. The narrative stands on its own, of course, but without Murakami's writing, it would not have the same lasting impact; it would not be classic literature. If it's your first Murakami, "South Of The Border, West Of The Sun" will surely lead you to other works; if you've read him already, it's only a matter of time before you reach each book in turn.
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oanaverde, November 8, 2006 (view all comments by oanaverde)
A delicate love story of our times, that has the perfume of an old romance. Murakami's best novel will turn you into a fervent reader if you came across it by accident and will make you reluctant to read anything else, if you are experienced in this area, for fear that you might discover something more beautiful. If you read the first pages, it will capture your mind like a spider net and you won't leave it untill you reach the last page. And even though the end might puzzle you a bit, you won't be able to find any better alternative to it. So, do allow it to seduce you.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780679767398
Subtitle:
A Novel
Author:
Murakami, Haruki
Translator:
Gabriel, Philip
Author:
Gabriel, Philip
Publisher:
Vintage
Location:
New York
Subject:
General
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Man-woman relationships
Subject:
Japan
Subject:
Love stories
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
2000
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Series:
Vintage International
Publication Date:
20000314
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
224
Dimensions:
8.07x5.29x.67 in. .57 lbs.
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Related Subjects

» Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z

South of the Border, West of the Sun: A Novel New Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$14.95 In Stock
Product details 224 pages Vintage Books USA - English 9780679767398 Reviews:
"Review A Day" by , "A dark assemblage of the wonderfully flawed characters we've come to expect from Japan's reigning master of the surreal, South of the Border is completely absorbing despite its somewhat bare premise. Hooked instantly by Murakami's offbeat dialogue and the bizarre yet sweet relationship between Hajime and Shimamoto, I had a hard time putting this book down even for a minute." (read the entire Powells.com review)
"Review" by , "A wise and beautiful book."
"Review" by , "His most deeply moving novel."
"Review" by , "Lovely, deceptively simple....A novel of existential romance."
"Review" by , "A probing meditation on human fragility, the grip of obsession, and the impenetrable, erotically charged enigma that is the other."
"Review" by , "Brilliant....A mesmerizing new example of Murakami's deeply original fiction."
"Review" by , "In Murakami's world, secret selves and other realities are forever lurking beneath the shifting sands of the everyday. If this examination of one of those selves is less grand than we've come to expect from one of the masters of the contemporary novel, it is also more intimate and every bit as unsettling."
"Review" by , “A fine, almost delicate book about what is unfathomable about us.”
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