Once is better than a lifetime
Today, I decided to give myself a break from studying and indulged myself by going to a signing event by Haruki Murakami. Only 150 people could enter, so I went five hours beforehand and it rained and poured and I got so soaked my flats resembled a sinking boat, water splurging out whenever I walked. I made friends at the queue, acted like an idiot in front of Murakami and most possibly be going down with a cold - but that’s not what I wanted to write about.
After the signing, there were some people from the press, and one asked me “What is it so compelling about Murakami?” and I answered that there was something in the way he writes, where you can feel there is actually a bond, a shared vision of the world. And he said “People usually tell me that”.
There is something about Murakami. It’s not only that his books are “good”. I have loved a lot of books, the kind you can’t put down because the story is so enthralling and the characters have your heart in their hands. Books that you want to finish but at the same time you don’t, because then they will be over and the magic will dispel. But Murakami - he pulls the heartstrings, but in a different way. It’s not that you cry when that character dies; but that when the character speaks you think “This is it. This is how I see the world, this is how I feel”. Feelings are difficult to put into words - they seem lacking, inconclusive. A naive question such as “Why do you like this?” can be more complicated to answer that one might think at first glance - it’s something you feel, but how can you describe it? This nagging feeling, how can I picture it so people can understand its depth? Murakami does it. He takes that which links us together and transforms it into a written form, letting us know that we’re not alone. Specially in its first books, the story holds no other meaning than for us to see how the characters develop. I’ve got the feeling that it’s not “this happens so the character feels like this” but “I want to express this feeling, how can the story fit?”. Even the characters sometimes lack a clear personality, a mere vessel for a vast ocean of fears, doubts, regrets, uncertainty. And there is a little of us in each and every of the characters - they are no one, and they are everyone.
Today, I could only say “Thank you for writing.”
After the signing, there were some people from the press, and one asked me “What is it so compelling about Murakami?” and I answered that there was something in the way he writes, where you can feel there is actually a bond, a shared vision of the world. And he said “People usually tell me that”.
There is something about Murakami. It’s not only that his books are “good”. I have loved a lot of books, the kind you can’t put down because the story is so enthralling and the characters have your heart in their hands. Books that you want to finish but at the same time you don’t, because then they will be over and the magic will dispel. But Murakami - he pulls the heartstrings, but in a different way. It’s not that you cry when that character dies; but that when the character speaks you think “This is it. This is how I see the world, this is how I feel”. Feelings are difficult to put into words - they seem lacking, inconclusive. A naive question such as “Why do you like this?” can be more complicated to answer that one might think at first glance - it’s something you feel, but how can you describe it? This nagging feeling, how can I picture it so people can understand its depth? Murakami does it. He takes that which links us together and transforms it into a written form, letting us know that we’re not alone. Specially in its first books, the story holds no other meaning than for us to see how the characters develop. I’ve got the feeling that it’s not “this happens so the character feels like this” but “I want to express this feeling, how can the story fit?”. Even the characters sometimes lack a clear personality, a mere vessel for a vast ocean of fears, doubts, regrets, uncertainty. And there is a little of us in each and every of the characters - they are no one, and they are everyone.
Today, I could only say “Thank you for writing.”