Murakami and the mundane

Diving back into a Murakami novel many years after reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was an entirely exciting experience reintroducing myself to his writing style and the ridiculousness of his storylines. When I read my first Murakami novel I was taken aback by the magic realism because that was my introduction to the style– I thought maybe I just wasn't smart or cultured enough to "get" it. However, my experience reading The Wild Sheep Chase was much more enjoyable because I began to see the humor in Murakami's writing– that sometimes things don't make sense on purpose. While reading that first novel, I also wasn't paying attention at all to the references, but discussing them in class challenged me to find more easter eggs. Interacting with the text in this way made me feel even more connected to the story and Murakami's thought process. 

In the reading for today, I was fascinated by the point Rubin was making about the mundanity and almost boring qualities in the novels and their protagonists. I do agree that Boku leads a rather boring life and almost always stumbles into interesting situations, never seeking them out. In a way, it almost feels as though he is trying to lead a boring, quiet, life but the "other world" that Murakami uses so often, keeps pulling him back. Rubin argues that Boku is boring so that he can collect or highlight the interesting stories or quirks of the people around him, but never allows those around him to be perceived as full individuals. We see this in the way he describes people, based usually on their clothing and an unusual characteristic, or often with women, their body parts. I quite like the "boringness" of Boku, I find it humourous how someone so devoid of character reacts to these ridiculous situations that he finds himself in. Murakami argues his character is "boring" because "mere humans who root through their refrigerators at three o'clock in the morning can only produce writing that matches what they do. And that includes me." While yes, the settings and activities that the characters in Murakami find themselves in are usually rather ordinary, Murakami is able to dive deep into the psyche to explore interesting themes within those boring activities– like cooking spaghetti– and somehow makes it so captivating to read. 

Having understood the reference to hard-boiled fiction, I enjoyed being taken along The Wild Sheep Chase and could almost picture the novel as one of the film noirs we watched in class. 

-Sarah