Metaphorosis Reviews
Written on Aug 19, 2024
Summary
A boy and a girl meet and become friends, and when she suddenly vanishes, he tries to find her in the mysterious, seemingly-invented city she once described to him.
Review
I’ve read very little Japanese literature, so I admit off the bat that there are likely many cultural, stylistic, and literary references that passed me by. I’m new to Murakami’s work as well, but the description intrigued me.
I found the book slow going for about the first third – to the extent that I kept picking up other books to read instead. This may well align with Part I of the book, which an afterword explains was written earlier than the rest, and which is also written as a direct address to the girl of the story. In any case, I found the story slow, dry, and distant. Happily, it warms up (or I warmed to it) in the later portions (and the direct address disappears).
Overall, the book often feels like a metaphor in search of a meaning to attach itself to. The characters themselves eventually take a stab at interpreting the mysterious city and other key events, but without notable success. The book ends with little in the way of resolution, and without fulfilling its central promise of establishing the relationship between the boy and girl that start it all off. It’s not frustrating – because by that point you’ve grown used to the slow, uncertain [sic] rhythm of the prose – but it’s not satisfying, either. I was a little peeved that certain key issues – such as where the girl and boy first physically meet – are glossed over and never explained.
Murakami’s afterword describes his dissatisfaction with earlier, shorter versions of this story, and his decades-long desire to perfect it. I haven’t read those versions, but I did often feel that the story could and perhaps should have been much shorter. Revision isn’t always better, however much it may have scratched an itch for the author.
Perhaps because the symbolism of the story remains so vague, one reason for its length is the characters’ constant restatement of what has been said and what it means. I felt there were endless repetitions of passages that felt like:
“Perhaps he is silent because of his father.”
“So, you’re saying that the reason for his silence could be his relationship with his father?”
“Yes, it may that because of how he relates to his father, he is silent.”
It felt like Murakami tacitly apologizing (and perhaps overcompensating) for the fact that so much of what was happening was unclear.
Because the whole story takes place in Japan (or in a vague otherworld), I was surprised by how many of the musical and literary references were to Western composers, musicians, and authors. It was convenient for me, of course, but I expected far more cultural references I would miss. Perhaps there were subtler Japanese hints I missed completely.
Despite all the above, the middle of the book had a nice, soothing rhythm. By then, I was comfortable that I wasn’t missing major symbolism, but that it just wasn’t there, and we were out for a calm, pleasant walk in the woods without any particular purpose, which is pretty much what the story accomplishes.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.