"No matter what they wish for, no matter how far they go, people can never be anything but themselves" - "Birthday Girl" in Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Grabbed this book on a whim, while trying to balance 4 other books on the other hand, during a spree in an Indian bookstore in Bangalore. Books in these ubiquitous bookstores are so much cheaper than anywhere else in the world, and sometimes comparable or cheaper than the e-book versions. And I think I am probably prepared for another Murakami read. Took me a looooonnng time to get over the depressing Norwegian Wood and disconcerting 1Q84. And even though it was riveting till the end, what was Kafka On the Shore about?? Amazingly, I hadn't put the book down for a single moment, and I am no book snob.
Different from the earlier ones, this was a collection of short stories. But some stories gave me the creeps still - the kind that when the punchline came, made my eyes tear a little, my nose twinged a bit. Like the following:-
- Ever heard of a dab chick? It's palm sized creature, wears glasses, who thinks about death all the time. Neither the protagonist, until it became a real entity when he conjured it in his mind. (Come to think of it, that's what happen when you think of anything - fear, power, sympathy, love - and the thought manifest as reality.)
- What if you are given a wish, and only that one wish, on your 20th birthday, which you can't take it back afterwards? If you do change your mind later, what do you have left for the rest of your life?
- Do you have a 'poor aunt' - an aunt who is often sidelined from being too poor, too lacking - that sits on your shoulder like a shadow, peering over at whatever you do, and whom everybody can see? How did 'she' get there in the first place - did you "think" her up?
Probably go grab another of his books soon. Maybe in India which I am going soon again :)
