Akemi.died.of.flaws: "Only the dead stay 17 forever"

i was given a story to read 'Town of Cats' by one of my favourite writer Haruki Murakami. There is quaint story within Murakami's story with the same title. It is about being perpetually lost while still existing in the real world. Still with me? Good. Most of his works have a strong parallel universe theme.

Artwork accompanying 'Town of cats'

i had earlier read his 'Kafka by the shore' and absolutely loved it. Not only because he seems to be a 'cat person.' The character of Saeki San inspires me. Many do not realise but many things in life are just so uncomplicated and yet touch so deep that you are changed for life. Its ethereal to imagine that Saeki San's spirit as a young girl is able to exist with Kafka, who i believe is the reincarnate of her dead lover. Though the quaint Mr. Nakata's role in the novel eludes me but i still remember the UFO mishap and it draws me in.

“Of course they wrote to each other every day. ‘It might be good for us to try being apart like this,’ he wrote to her, ‘then we can really tell how much we mean to each other.’ But she didn’t really believe that. She knew their relationship was real enough that they didn’t need to go out of their way to test it. It was a one-in-a-million union, fated to be, something that could never be broken apart. She was absolutely sure of that. But he wasn’t. Or maybe he was, but simply didn’t accept it. So he went ahead and left for Tokyo, thinking that overcoming a few obstacles would strengthen their love for each other. Men are like that sometimes."

Then i read the ebook of Murakami's 'Norwegian Wood' translated by Jay Rubin. And i can easily say this book is my best read in a long time. The last book to move me so deeply was Mahomed Rasul's 'Mountain Pink.' i guess i am one of the very few lucky lucky people who possess 'Mountain Pink' since it is a throwaway from the USSR printed book days roughly around 1985 (i was'nt even born then). Anyway i read 'Norwegian Wood' at a time when i was hearing about people dying just like that and i, myself was toying with the idea. This book deals with death and sex in a very very honest way and the ending makes me go back to Chapter 1 to begin again. i cannot find words to describe it, all i know is i can only feel...and feel deep with every chapter. This is Murakami's best work, i believe.

My favourite passages are:

"But she said, "No, that's not it, Reiko. I'm not worried about that at
all. I just don't want anybody going inside me again. I just don't want
to be violated like that again - by anybody'."

"I wrote a huge number of letters that spring: one a week to Naoko, several to Reiko, and several more to Midori. I wrote letters in lecture hall, I wrote letters at my desk at home with sea gull on my lap, I wrote letters at empty tables at home with Seagull on my lap, I wrote letters at empty tables during my breaks at the Italian restaurant. It was as if I were writing letters to hold together pieces of my crumbling life."

"It's because of you when I'm in bed in the morning that I can wind my spring and tell myself I have to live another good day."

You can just pass off Murakami's works as a pile of random, dope induced rubbish but if you just stay a while, re-read and think you will find many similarities with what conformist call realism or just life. Don't some of us meet people with whom we bond on a fraternal level? Just the way Kafka saw Sakura as his sister, which may or may not be true. Don't some of us have such experiences that make us dysfunctional to a level we never want to be 'violated' again like Naoko? Murakami brings me closer to reality than i ever could have been.