There’s strange, and then there’s Murakami.
I’ve been immersed in Elena Ferrante’s Neopolitan novels in preparation for my trip to Italy in June. Fancying a brief palate cleanser between volumes 2 and 3, I picked up Haruki Murakami’s The Strange Library (2014). The beautiful hardback volume with its stunning end-papers and quirky illustrations was the perfect length to read over an afternoon in the sunshine.
The Strange Library tells the story of a young boy who regularly visits the library to find the answers to the myriad of questions that puzzle him from day to day. On this particular occasion, he was curious about how taxes were collected during the Ottoman Empire. After returning his books, he is sent down a gloomy corridor to the reserved section to find books on his chosen subject. The sinister librarian he finds there, locates suitable volumes but he has to read them on the premises, as they are not to be removed.
Beginning to panic that his mother will be worried about his absence, but too intimidated by the librarian to object, the boy follows him down into a gloomy subterranean place deep beneath the library. He meets a sheep man (it’s Murakami, remember?) and a beautiful disappearing girl who break the news to him that he’s trapped, and will unfortunately meet with a terrible fate.
I’d like to say all turns out well in the end, but this is a Murakami tale, and it just gets more and more surreal. Meals feature heavily – another constant in Murakami’s peculiar world, and while the tale feels quite light and short to read, the juxtaposition of eerie illustrations peppering the text give it a nightmarish quality. It didn’t take me very long to read it, and at the time I thought it was charming if perhaps a little slight, but its dark menace has stayed with me reminding me that Murakami’s magical realism certainly has bite.
Lucy
Sarah
Sounds completely bonkers – I’m sold!
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I love Murakami. This might only be a brief tale but it’s as wacky as anything else that I’ve read of his – brilliant!
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I used to adore Murakami and then I read 1Q84 and for whatever reason it destroyed him for me, I’m not sure why. I haven’t been able to pick up any of his books since, though this sounds interesting (but also, perhaps, a little too like all his other books) so might perhaps present an opportunity to re-open that door (or well, to use another Murakami theme). Interesting review. Did you enjoy it?
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I have a copy. It’s a lovely looking little thing. Actually I think the story needed the help of the illustrations and format. I’ve enjoyed so many Murakamis but not 1Q84 or the one after that – Colourless ‘something something’.
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I have the ‘colourless’ book sitting on my shelf; it was a gift and I feel guilty for not reading it but can’t stir myself to pick it up. 1Q84 had an interesting concept at its core but it was just too baggy and the female characters were just too much male sexual fantasy for me. Very two-dimensional. I wonder if I went back and read more Murakami, would I see that everywhere?
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Hmm, never picked up on that about the women. I liked the beginning of 1Q84. I think it was only one part to start off with and then he added the other two? Pity. Still, he’s still one of my favourites.
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I’ve not read IQ84 so I’m interested at your response. I felt a little like that about South of the Border, west of the Sun, but then I read Kafka on the shore, and was won back completely. IQ84 is on my tbr pile, and you’ve intrigued me enough to dig it out. I did enjoy The Strange Library, although I prefer to immerse myself into his longer fiction.
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Fascinating. Great review. I really like how you examine your own reaction to the book so carefully. I’ve only read Murakami’s mini memoir on running, so I’ve missed out on his fantastical tendencies. I’ll have to pick this up!
Oh and have you written up your thoughts on ferrante anywhere or are you waiting to complete the series? I’d like to read that someday (your thoughts).
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I haven’t written up my thoughts on Ferrante yet – I read the first one a while ago, but might have a flick through and post up what I can remember of my thoughts, but I’ll definitely be posting up on the rest soon – well, the next two, as I’ve yet to read book 4, but watch this space! 🙂
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I’d thought about this, but am so glad I read your review as I don’t want it if it’s for a happy ending. I’ll spend the whole time picturing his mum panicking at home, wondering where he is, and praying Esther Rantzen will save him.
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It’s funny how you read books (and watch films/tv) so differently once you become a parent, isn’t it? I’m always worried about the poor Mum fretting at home in tales of peril, and youth stupidity.
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Ive not read any Murakami other than Norwegian Wood which I understand is atypical. I’d like to try him but some of the books seem so … so long…..Any recommendations?
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Well, this is short, but it’s nowhere near as good as Kafka on the Shore or The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. Both are chunky, but well worth it.
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Noted, thanks for your insight Sarah
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I really enjoyed Wind-up Bird, even if I frequently thought ‘and your point is?’ Interesting you should mention surrealism. There is something of the wandering through the streets that you get in Paris Peasant or Nadja, never knowing quite what’s around the corner, like a formal re-acquaintance with making time to be open to chance.
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I think that’s what is so unnerving about his work. What is around the corner is never what you expect, and the endings are never fully (or even partially) resolved. Wonderful stuff though!
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I can’t say I liked The Strange Library much, but the physical book is beautiful. For me, it’s become a book to have rather than a book to read again.
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I think I’d have to agree with you. I really love Murakami’s longer novels, and this nods to those but is too brief to match them. However as a graphic novel it is a wonderfully quirky, surreal and eerily threatening curiosity – definitely a keeper.
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So interesting to read this review Sarah. I have just finished Murukami’s Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki, which I found to be strange and difficult in places, but overall fascinating and memorable. I have read that his work has many common features (usually the surreal ones), so not sure if I will tackle anything else while my TBR pile is so high with other things, but I imagine I will come back to him at some point.
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I’ve not yet read that, but have it in my tbr pile. Reading this little novella has really given me the taste for more, so I might read Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki quite soon! 🙂
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I look forward to your review in due course!! 🙂
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You can never go wrong with a book about libraries!
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Ain’t that the truth!
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