Back when I’d read Kafka on the Shore and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, I’d found myself intrigued yet frustrated by an aspect of the work I couldn’t quite pin down. I now think it was a combination of Murakami’s minimalistic and anticlimactic style. The more we’ve learned about Murakami’s personality, writing techniques, and influences, the better I can retroactively apply that understanding to those texts which seemed anomalous on their own. For example, at times I found myself really baffled by story direction choices, especially in the relatively grounded Kafka on the Shore. Though absurdity itself isn’t too unusual to employ in writing, when the method of integrating those absurdities was seemingly randomly and without explanation it was difficult to come to terms with. But after reading A Wild Sheep Chase and the various assigned short stories, I've been able to get a sense of how Murakami operates. It’s not that A Wild Sheep Chase doesn’t have its share of unanswered questions, but I don’t find myself as troubled over them as I might have been. Loose-thread elements now feel characteristic of Murakami’s work to me, and I can accept them as part of his method of story-telling.
-Kate
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