The first thing I would say about this novel and about a lot of Murakami's work is it's impossible to know how much of it could be lost in translation. It is impossible to know if the beauty that comes through in her writing is also evident in its original Japanese but one assumes it is. The main narrator in this book is known only as 'K', who is a teacher in love with Sumire, a young woman who wants to be a writer and is in turn in love with a wine importer called Miu, who she ends up working for. As K finds himself increasingly cut off from Sumire's life, she takes a work trip with Miu and it is here that she disappears and K is brought over to help search for her.
This novel tells the reader a lot about loneliness. The loneliness firstly of K's unrequited adoration for Sumire and Sumire's own loneliness in her feelings for Miu that causes her to go off into another world. Aside from these two, there is also Miu's loneliness caused by a traumatic experience years before, that causes the colour to seep out of her and is the root of the impossibility she has in relationships and intimacy.
This is the only book I've read by Murakami so I cannot make comparisons with his other work. The crafting of this story is perfect though and the language, one can imagine, preserved well by the translators which builds the slightly mysterious and even paranormal part of this work and entices the reader even more. The plot is never really resolved, but this fits with the mystery of this story. I will certainly be seeking out and reading more of Murakami's work.
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