Haruki Marukami and me(in love-hate relationship with his works)

Norwegian woods- 

Wrong choice of book for my age.  No,  but the author has published it in his 38th year which makes it ok for my age.  Its basically a love story written according to the author's whims and fancies.  Perverse,  embarassingly explicit potraying physical infidelity and mental commitment(according to me,  this concept of emotional commitment with physical promisciuty is false justification to one's conscience).  With most of the characters showing nervous breakdowns and commiting suicides,  I strongly doubt the sanity of the author, as  it is my habit to elucidate the mental status of the author at the time of writing a book, I tried to guess Haruki Murakami's state of mind too. But somehow,  doesn't seem to match.  All authors work on their own single theme.  Whatever may be the story,  the author reveals himself in it. This author is still a tough one to diagnose.  Need few more readings of his books.

Kafka on the shore

I just completed this book and I am totally at a loss of words to describe what I am feeling. Just like Haruki Murakami,  I leave it to you to come to your own conclusion regarding my feelings at this moment. For nearly three months,  I hadn't read a story book. I was feeling emotionally quite weak and avoided anything that could burden my mind. I chose movies carefully. Since a month I have lost the patience to watch movies too. I have indulged heavily in casual sitcoms,  motivational books and my sanskrit textbooks. But out of nowhere 5 days back,  I came across this book suggestion somewhere,  read few reviews,  downloaded it on impulse and lo,  I couldn't put it down. It is definitely a page turner. Also an emotional juggler. For a person like me who is already practically puzzled by the world of dreams and subconscious mind,  this book comes as a feast. Needless to say that I guessed the ending of the book to be as open as Haruki Murakami himself. Same perversions as in the previous novel that I had read,  but mentioned less frequently(thank god),  confused characters,  plot moving in and out of consciousness, the story absorbs you in its conundrum. The author has no other solution to this than to let the readers think about the solution. I did decipher that Haruki Murakami is a deeply wounded person who is struggling to accept the reality through his stories. He has a huge scar in his emotional front and I can sense that at the end of his scar,  a part of the wound is still fresh. Whatever said,  his power of imagination and narrative skills are commendable. Though the story has lot of questions unanswered,  it is a gripping novel. The author must be rewarded for this unique ability. I think I will be in this trance for few more days. I appreciate an actor who blends with the character on screen,  an actress whose beauty lingers in your mind even after a movie ends,  an author who stretches your imagination and makes you think and a story that gives a room to you in its pages. Kafka on the shore did win my heart.

Coming to my interpretation of the story,  there will be spoilers for those who are planning to read Kafka on the shore. I am pretty sure that no one is going to read this blog,  but yet, I want to be optimistic.
I strongly feel that the author wanted to write something about the Oedipus complex. Am empty mind can be filled in by anything,  good or bad. Especially, when the anything comes from a trustworthy source. In this story,  the boy's empty mind was filled with the prophecy that his father has told. The subconscious mind of the boy wants to believe the unnatural prophecy that his father has uttered. At the same time,  as a teenager,  he wants to end this torture going on in his mind and free himself from the ever controlling torture of his father. He plans to physically leave the place and move to lead his life as a free man. However,  it is not so easy for him to get rid of the thoughts that his father has instilled in him. So he subconsciously wants to kill his father. His father has indeed prophecied that he would kill him. The boy wants to fulfill the prophecy and get rid of it at the subconscious level. He also thinks that he will inevitably land up sleeping with his mother and staying with his sister according to his father's prophecy. Since his mother and sister have left him when he was just four years old,  he imagines every woman who matches their age to be his mother and sister. When he meets Ms Saeki who is old enough to be his mother,  he is in conflict whether his father's prophecy would come true. He falls deeply in love with her and ends up sleeping with her younger soul. Since the story is surrealistic, one can be open to all sorts of imaginations. He is finally freed from the confusions in his mind and tortures of his belief in his father's prophecy. He returns to his normal life as a free bird. 

Haruki Murakami has instilled a confidence in me through his books that being anything is normal in this world. Each person is weird and has his own set of queer ideas, fears and apprehensions. It is fine to be anything and feel anything. You are not alone in your madness. 

That is a great solace.

1Q84

It's a long story- his venture into shifting realities. His best work because it lingers deep in the mind for a long time, forever. I am not able to write about it in detail because it's more than two years since I have read it. But the story is still filled in my head..

After dark:

A short novel. Looks like an introduction or after-thought of 1Q84. You can see traces of the author's confusion, disturbed father-son relationship, sisters, lost mother, shifting realities, vagueness, cats, sandwiches, emotional scars. It seems that Haruki Murakami wants us to fuse our minds with his in a different reality to understand what exactly he wants to convey. I am unable to conclude whether this is a virtue or his drawback. Enigma is his piece de resistance.