Haruki Murakami's "The City and Its Uncertain Walls" is a contemplative and mystical novel that takes readers on a slow, meditative journey through a world where reality and fantasy blur. The story follows a boy and a girl who meet during a high school essay contest and create an imagined city where the girl believes her true self resides. Decades later, the boy, now a middle-aged man, finds himself in this mysterious city, grappling with questions of identity, memory, and the human psyche.

The novel starts slowly, with a repetitive and distant prose style that may challenge readers initially. However, as the story progresses, the rhythm becomes more engaging, drawing readers into the dreamlike world Murakami crafts. The narrative is deeply introspective, exploring themes of duality, the sense of self, and unresolved emotions.

While the novel has its moments of brilliance, it also feels at times like a metaphor in search of a meaning, with characters often restating key ideas without much resolution. The ending, though not entirely satisfying, leaves readers with a sense of having walked through a calm, mysterious landscape without a clear destination.

Overall, "The City and Its Uncertain Walls" is quintessential Murakami—rich in magical realism and introspection—but it may not be the best starting point for those new to his work. Longtime fans will appreciate its depth and the return to themes explored in "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World," while others might find it slow and meandering. Despite its flaws, the novel is a thought-provoking read that will resonate with those who enjoy Murakami's unique style.

The Short of It:

Dreamlike. Ethereal.

The Rest of It:

Murakami’s books are always thought-provoking and often serve as a palate cleanser for me because they are so different from most books. The City and Its Uncertain Walls is no different in that regard.

This is a story involving two worlds. One is seemingly reality, the other a simpler existence behind a large wall. In this other world people must give up their shadows to exist there, unicorns roam free only to die from the harsh elements. Dreams are read by a Dream Reader.

This is an odd story. There is a quest to find truth, and also a love story split between two worlds. Lovers of libraries will find comfort in these pages because this town, enclosed by a wall centers around a library, a very special one.

Murakami fans might recognize this story as it began as a short story but there are many references to previous books. Mentions of a “well” a la The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and The Strange Library. Murakami is known to include these essentials in his stories:

Cats (there are a few mentions of cats, none talking though)
Ears (Murakami has a thing for ears. He describes them just so)
Women’s fashion. Attention to what women wear.
Lonely, everyman type of character
Mysterious worlds
The one thing that stood out to me is the mention of the pandemic. Many of my favorite novelists, Stephen King included have included the pandemic in their storytelling. I mean, it was such a critical point in our lives, how can you not? But this mention of it was interesting because the wall that surrounds this town, forces them into isolation, much the same way that the pandemic did. It DID seem very surreal, those pandemic years.

I was talking to another blogger about this book. Nadia, and I love Murakami but at 16 chapters in, I reached out to her. This one seemed a little different and it was taking me a while to get into it. Initially, the alternating chapters were challenging because I wasn’t able to discern who was speaking. The two main characters are nameless and since the story bounces between two worlds, I felt that it was a little hard to get to know them. Eventually, I did but it wasn’t until about chapter 36 or so.

Murakami fans wait so long for new books because the translation process usually takes two plus years, so when a book drops, we jump on it! I was lucky enough to snag a review copy but this book releases on November 19th.

My fave Murakami book to date is Kafka on the Shore but by the time I got to the last page of this one, I was smitten and already missing that strange world.

After having completed Murakami’s huge opus “1Q84” recently and enjoyed it, I was very happy to get my hands on this ARC. I didn’t know he had anything new coming out, and the afterword for this revealed that it was actually a story he had written much earlier in his life and reworked into this longer novel. I feel very lucky that I was able to read it before publication.

This book feels like an interesting dream. And strange dreams also happen in the story, making the plot feel like a dream WITHIN a dream. Almost a sort of fairytale setting for adults in a way, with the bizarre city that may or may not actually exist in the real world. But what’s real and what isn’t? And does it REALLY matter?

Murakami is still writing about younger women in a questionable way. Here’s a thing you should probably know: the two main characters meet when he is 17 and she is 16, but they are then separated by the wall of a magical town and he ages but she does not. So when they meet again, he is much older but she is still 16. And he remains fixated on her. Despite this, though, I was shaking my head a lot less throughout the read than I did during “1Q84.” It was a cozy story with a mildly ominous undertone. I really enjoyed reading it before bed.

The middle section of the book will probably be a bit slow for some people, as it follows one character for a while and frankly not a whole lot happens during that time. It didn’t bother me much because I still enjoyed the vibes and a library was involved. But there was quite a bit of repetition and following along with the character’s day-to-day, so I could easily see people growing bored with it. I think a lot of stuff probably could’ve been edited down, but who am I to question?

Eventually there’s a twist that was pretty farfetched, even for a Murakami book, and I had trouble accepting it, but I tried to just go with the flow and let the story carry me where it wanted to. The whimsy and darkness at times could be very unbalanced in this book, suddenly going from a relaxing atmosphere to something so sad it was jarring. But really, that’s a mild complaint. (And to be fair, cozy and sad are two of my favorite things.)

A few more minor nitpicks: There was a character that was Neurodivergent and I think that Murakami mostly handled it with sensitivity. Another character, though, seemed to come across as Asexual (or at the very least suffered from a restrictive medical condition) and I couldn’t decide if this one was handled as well because he made a couple of strange choices. There was also a minor plot inconsistency involving a piece of clothing and it didn’t really change anything story wise but it was distracting because it kept coming up. And honestly, the main character is likable enough but his obsession with his high school sweetheart was supposed to be romantic and instead had me giving him the skeptical side eye for the entire book.

What this novel does very well is handle complicated themes such as identity, grief, and when literally the only thing in life that you can be bothered to care about anymore is your local library. Murakami also writes lovely prose. It’s like a warm mug of soothing tea.

I liked the ending. It had a nice balance of “This is SO WEIRD” and just enough closure without things being wrapped up too neatly. (For ME, anyway.) I still like 1Q84 quite a bit more, for numerous reasons, but I enjoyed the journey here and the oddly chill and dreamlike atmosphere. Even if I did want just a bit more. Less repetition and more of the strange plot action would have bumped up my rating, for sure! But I think Murakami is an excellent writer. Slightly pervy tendencies aside, (*though they were toned WAY down in this book), he really knows his way around a narrative. I would only recommend this to people who are very patient when it comes to a slow pace and characters that repeat themselves, though!
I’m really in the mood for a blueberry muffin now.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

TW: Depression, Animal death (off screen), Suicide, Child death

It's a town that you will remember as a Murakami fan - the dream reading and library of our dreams

There are unicorns and Beatles references and lots of love for libraries as well as a love story. The boy Boku, now a man, searches for his first friend, his pen pal his love when they were teens and she told him where to find "her real self." Now in his 40's, the man has entered the city walls and searches for the girl. The City is filled with references of older Murakami books and they emerge like bright Easter Eggs in the inconsistent, trademark pacing of the novel. Murakami is exploring his own magical realism style and questioning whether it is actually just reality.

It's effervescent, its magical, it's a beautiful vapor of a story #knopf #knopfvintagepantheonanchor #thecityanditsuncertainwalls #harukimurakami

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews
Summary
A boy and a girl meet and become friends, and when she suddenly vanishes, he tries to find her in the mysterious, seemingly-invented city she once described to him.
Review
I’ve read very little Japanese literature, so I admit off the bat that there are likely many cultural, stylistic, and literary references that passed me by. I’m new to Murakami’s work as well, but the description intrigued me.
I found the book slow going for about the first third – to the extent that I kept picking up other books to read instead. This may well align with Part I of the book, which an afterword explains was written earlier than the rest, and which is also written as a direct address to the girl of the story. In any case, I found the story slow, dry, and distant. Happily, it warms up (or I warmed to it) in the later portions (and the direct address disappears).
Overall, the book often feels like a metaphor in search of a meaning to attach itself to. The characters themselves eventually take a stab at interpreting the mysterious city and other key events, but without notable success. The book ends with little in the way of resolution, and without fulfilling its central promise of establishing the relationship between the boy and girl that start it all off. It’s not frustrating – because by that point you’ve grown used to the slow, uncertain [sic] rhythm of the prose – but it’s not satisfying, either. I was a little peeved that certain key issues – such as where the girl and boy first physically meet – are glossed over and never explained.
Murakami’s afterword describes his dissatisfaction with earlier, shorter versions of this story, and his decades-long desire to perfect it. I haven’t read those versions, but I did often feel that the story could and perhaps should have been much shorter. Revision isn’t always better, however much it may have scratched an itch for the author.
Perhaps because the symbolism of the story remains so vague, one reason for its length is the characters’ constant restatement of what has been said and what it means. I felt there were endless repetitions of passages that felt like:
“Perhaps he is silent because of his father.”
“So, you’re saying that the reason for his silence could be his relationship with his father?”
“Yes, it may that because of how he relates to his father, he is silent.”
It felt like Murakami tacitly apologizing (and perhaps overcompensating) for the fact that so much of what was happening was unclear.
Because the whole story takes place in Japan (or in a vague otherworld), I was surprised by how many of the musical and literary references were to Western composers, musicians, and authors. It was convenient for me, of course, but I expected far more cultural references I would miss. Perhaps there were subtler Japanese hints I missed completely.
Despite all the above, the middle of the book had a nice, soothing rhythm. By then, I was comfortable that I wasn’t missing major symbolism, but that it just wasn’t there, and we were out for a calm, pleasant walk in the woods without any particular purpose, which is pretty much what the story accomplishes.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

The city and its uncertain walls by Haruki Murakami is a contemplative, mystical read that draws you in slowly and subtly digests your beliefs about the world.
The latest from literary giant Murakami begins with a teenage boy and a girl who have met during a high school essay contest awards ceremony. They begin to meet outside of their respective schools and build a hypothetical town together, where the girl believes her true self lives. When the narrator finds himself in said town some thirty years later, he must shed his shadow in order to stay. But upon releasing his shadow back to the real world, his consciousness is taken with it. Which world is the real world? And where does the shadow reside?

This novel began really slow for me. It has a meditative quality that was difficult for me at first. The repetition of certain words and phrases, while deliberate, grated on me in the beginning. As I settled into the novel, and it became a part of the story, it wasn’t nearly as jarring. I would say around the 50-60% mark I really began to be interested in what was happening. By the end of the novel, I was flabbergasted by the way my walls had been metaphorically torn down by the events and feelings both from inside the town surrounded by a wall, and the “real” world.

I lean toward giving this a 4/5, rounded up from 3.5 because if I wasn’t writing a review I may not have pushed through to the ending on this one. But the ending was worth it to me, and made what came before meaningful.

The City And It's Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami

This book is divided into 3 parts: Part 1/Part 2 and Part 3. Part 2 is the longest. Part 1 is about a teenage love story between a 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl. The characters have no names.

One day, the girl strangely told the boy, "She who is here is not the real thing, she is just a shadow, and her true self is somewhere else." At first, the boy thought the girl was making up a story.When he asked what kind of place this 'real' one was in and what she was doing there,working in a library that doesn't have a book. the girl started talking about a city located behind a high wall where she lived. She is the one who helps the Dream Reader in the library with everything he needs.

The boy asks if he can come to the city where the girl is actually.
"She said if there’s a real desire, he can come."The girl answered that the boy had the right to be a Dream Reader.


"Even if the boy could reach the city behind the wall, the girl had already said that she wouldn't remember any of the memorable stories they had shared together."


"If he want to come to the city, he must leave his shadow outside the walls of the world. Just as a person without a shadow cannot remain long without it, a shadow can also gradually lose its strength and is likely to perish."

“There is a strong gatekeeper who protects the town. Once you enter through this wall, there is no way out. However, weaknesses exist everywhere. There is indeed one place to exit from the town behind the wall.

There's only one way out of The Town.
The place where residents were told not to go (P......L)

There are unicorns in the city behind the wall. There are also creatures called The Beasts.They live without harming the residents. During the winter, many of the beasts die because they can't bear the cold and lack of food. The Gate Keeper had to throw the dead Beasts into the pit, pour oil on them and burn them. The living Beasts are said to mate in the spring, and during the summer, they give birth to baby Beasts."

In Part 1, a boy and a girl always go on dates in a park. One day, the girl did not show up
to the place where they were dating.

Normally, the girl always arrives early, even arriving earlier than the boy who sometimes arrives a little late. Why might this be? Could it be that the girl is avoiding him due to his sexual fantasies, or is it due to an accident, or is she ill? What could it be?


The girl arrived about 40 minutes late. She
seemed to be ran all the way. Since that day, the girl's behavior has been strange. Then one day, the girl disappeared and never appeared again.

I won't say too much about the chapters in Part 2 and Part 3 because it would be a spoiler.
So I won’t say much. I’ll only mention a little bit."


In Part 2, the young man is around 45 years old and still single. He has a good job in the publishing industry. However, he is unhappy due to the pressures in the big city of Tokyo. He is constantly reminded of a young woman he loved in his teens, who suddenly disappeared. He’s not happy anymore, so he decides to quit his job in Tokyo."


He decides to work as a librarian in a small town surrounded by mountains. The second part is much more interesting than the first. The old librarian, Mr. Koyasu, has a sympathetic backstory and wears a kilt, like the Scots. His peculiar behaviors (I won’t reveal details to avoid spoilers) add to the intrigue."


A woman who opened a coffee shop; The boy wearing the Yellow Submarine jacket, who always comes to the library to read the books when he is no longer at school,
(the name of the Yellow Submarine is Bee Gees' song) Yellow submarine boy does not speak much. He and his family's incompatibility.


The mysterious former librarian Mr. Koyasu, the bookish Yellow Submarine Boy, and a character who is now middle-aged. They did not meet in the town by chance. There's a reason behind it. It also has something to do with the town behind the wall. Moreover, there's a secret room in the library they frequently visit.

In Part 3, they returned to the city behind the wall. Part 3 isn't as long as Part 2; it only has a few chapters. That's all I can say about the book to avoid giving away any spoilers.

According to Murakami's writing style, true to its roots in magical realism, explores the boundaries between the conscious and the subconscious, reality and the surreal. He intricately narrating two parallel timelines in alternating sequences.

In this story, there's a subtle mention of jazz tunes by Paul Desmond, Dave Brubeck, and Erroll Garner playing in a café, alongside references to García Márquez's "Love In The Time of Cholera." Reading it while playing some jazz might make the experience even more complete.

This story was originally published by Murakami as a novella in the 1980s when he was an emerging writer, featured in a Japanese literary magazine. At the time, it was a work he felt wasn't entirely complete or fully satisfying. However, during the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, he revisited and expanded the story, transforming it into a full-length novel titled *The City and Its Uncertain Walls*.

Although the storyline is different, the characters' emotions and experiences in this book are similar to Murakami's other works. Much like Stephen King, Murakami employs a highly descriptive writing style. At times, this leads to certain scenes being extended longer than necessary, with repetitive and drawn-out passages, particularly in Part 2 of the book.

Now I'm going to talk about the similarities between Hard Boiled Wonder Land and The City And It's Uncertain Walls, so ⚠️Warning ⚠️ minor spoiler.

If you've read Hard Boiled Wonder Land, you already know this. It's not important.

It was in Hard Boiled Wonder Land
The Beasts/The Library/The Shadow Those chapters are similar to the chapters in the book Hard Boiled Wonder Land. It's the same room where Shadow ran away. At The Library, the young lady welcomed The Dream Reader with tea, and the situation in The Library was the same. In winter, the room where The Beasts die of cold and lack of food, The Gate Keeper burns The Beasts.
The chapter titles and some phrasing differ slightly.


The stories of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and The City and Its Uncertain Walls are completely different stories , but what they have in common is the City setting.

The Town , The Dream Reader, Gate Keeper
The Shadow, The Library, The Wall (26 feet high)
Watch Tower, Clock Tower with no hands
,The Beasts , The Unicorns , The Woods
,The Pool, Library without books ,No electricity, ,no gas and Wood Stove. All of these are present in The City and Its Uncertain Walls


I mean *Hard Boiled Wonderland and The City and Its Uncertain Walls* have completely different plots. However, both are set in "The City ," a place surrounded by high walls.

"If you're asked whether you need to reread *Hard Boiled Wonderland*, the answer is No. Just looking at the city's map is enough since it appears clearly in your mind."


In the original "Hard Boiled Wonderland," there's a map of The Town. However, in the e-copy of Murakami's "The City and Its Uncertain Walls" that I have, I haven't come across the map of The Town. It might be that it hasn't been included yet because it's an uncorrected proof, or perhaps it's left out to avoid similarity with "Hard Boiled Wonderland." The omission of the map is not mentioned, but having the map included would make it more vivid for readers who are not familiar with it.

Below this post, I have shared an image of the map. Knowing the map will likely make the setting of the town more vivid and clear to readers.

There may be some of his fans who might assume that everything he writes is excellent. However, I don’t feel that this book is either exceptionally good or a masterpiece among his works. It's neither bad nor outstanding; it's interesting and enjoyable to read, but that's all about it.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the early chance to read this book.

https://youtu.be/XSuRlrWf-6Y?si=2T-Y_LGw0FqYS0av

Book Review by Bookish In Fiction Land
August 18.2024

The first quarter of the book is exciting as you realize where you’re going. But once you get there, man, it’s a drag. Felt pretty unedited and was often repetitive. Glad the author is revisiting the world and narrative approach of Hard Boiled Wonderland, but this novel really missed the mark for me.

I found this interesting and was asking myself what was happening as I read it. An ethereal read by an author who doesn't spell everything out for you, which is nice. There is an allowing for the reader's discovery and theoretical view of what might be happening.

I’m not going to rehash the synopsis; I’m simply going to communicate that I enjoyed each and every page of this slow paced, introspective, and gorgeous read.

Another excellent, excellen novel from Mr Murakami.

Recommended.



Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for the DRC

Ugh not the town again

I wanted to give this book 2 stars, but my shadow wants to give it 4. So we compromised.

I think I've changed. Initially I wanted to blame the author for why this book really isn't that great. I used to love his slow, descriptive passages of basic tasks. There are parts of his books where he describes a character making dinner and I could live in those forever. Or so I thought. This book was definitely written by Murakami, still has those slow sipping-tea-eating-blueberry muffins sections, but they don't seem as special to me and I'm not sure why that is.

I'll start with my shadow's opinion and say something nice. The writing is very special. The setting is special. And the magical realism never seems so wacky that it takes you out of it (quite the opposite if anything.) I certainly respect what he's trying to play with here. And it IS an enjoyable read, just in the sense that it's somehow sad and beautiful at the same time. He also refuses to satisfy the reader in a way most authors would never. There are loose ends and whole plot points that he will warn you will not have a resolution.

My non-shadow (or am I the shadow? Ooo..) opinion is that while there are nice descriptive passages and it's not tied up in a nice bow at any point, this book is borderline boring. Nothing really HAPPENS. Or when something does happen, nothing really comes of it. As much as I respect the experimental nature of this book, it also is missing the basic building blocks of book that’ll keep you reading. I could have accepted that a lot more if it wasn't almost 700 pages. The best way I can think of it is that this is a perfect book to have as a hard copy on an end table next to a reading chair in an office. You pick it up from time to time, soak it in, come back 6 months later. It is NOT an airplane book. I was not riveted enough to not notice time passing (Ooo…)

The compromise review is that ultimately it's Murakami and he's so special and so different and I believe he just wants his reader to do the work rather than being handed all the meaning. I didn't like the town in the book before (and I don't like it now) because I really don't know what it represents. I can guess that it's kind of like our internal thoughts. Or maybe a place our thoughts live that we should let go of, but don't. There are definitely connections you make between different characters and different settings (a town surrounded by walls, a town surrounded by mountains, etc) and I respect and understand that I should take a step back and think about what it all means. To not need this immediate satisfaction. But it’s a long book and I need more motivation to have it not feel like a chore after awhile.

This book is better than most but it’s definitely not Murakami’s best. I would not let it be an introduction to him.

This was beautifully written story. I think fans of the Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern will like this one.

Welcome back to the "end of the world"!

I have read the majority of Murakami's bibliography, and was deeply excited about The City and Its Uncertain Walls, his first full-length novel in several years. This novel, is unmistakably Murakami. Even ignoring the purposeful similarities to Hard Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World (this is a partial re-exploration of the same universe), this is the Murakami-est Murakami to have ever Murakami-ed.

We are taken through an ode to magical realism, as the middle-aged narrator recounts his high-school romance, and the insurmountability of finding that love again. Through this journey where fantasy and reality are blurred, our narrator finds himself in a city with ever evolving walls, separated from his shadow, and working with his (still high-school aged) former girlfriend in a dream library. When his shadow falls ill and the narrator agrees to help his shadow escape to save his (its?) life, we're tumbled back into the real world where the narrator serves as head librarian in a small town. As he takes on the role of head librarian, the barrier between the walled city and the real world seem ever thinner.

Is our narrator the shadow? Is his 'real self' still in the city? Who is real and who is the mere shadow? What parts do we cull to exist in society? Murakami masterfully creates a dreamlike world where we explore the sense of self, the human psyche, unresolved emotions, and the hidden recesses of the mind. The narrator navigates these uncertain walls, as we begin to question how we build our own walls in our perception of the world around us, and our recollections.

Personally, perhaps selfishly, I had read Novelist as a Vocation earlier this year, and found more than a few similarities between a younger Murakami and the first-person Narrator. In concert with the fact that the idea for this universe first showed up in a magazine and was later expanded upon to become Hard Boiled Wonderland, it made me read with the assumption that this concept of duality of identity is something Murakami has chewed on for quite a long time.

I enjoyed this book, and felt like it scratched an itch that only Murakami can truly fill. That said, it's not his best work, nor my favorite of his works, and isn't what I would recommend someone to start with if they were Murakami-curious. The pacing is slow and meandering, like a rather lazy, diaphanous train of thought, but suited to the style of story. If you want to feel like you're soaking in a slow book, and comfortable with magical realism, I'd definitely recommend!

I'll be re-reading this one soon, though perhaps will pick up its counterpart in Hard Boiled Wonderland first, to refresh my memory! The City and Its Uncertain Walls comes out in English in November, I received an electronic advanced reader copy from NetGalley :)

I'm a huge Murakami fan, and the highest compliment I could possibly give is that this is a quintessential Murakami book. Fascinating, weird, somehow complex yet also wildly readable, it takes the reader in a million different directions all at once. There is no blueprint for his works, but there is a feel and a vibe that he consistently nails every single time he publishes another story. In my eyes, he can do no wrong.

Thank you netgalley for giving me ARC access!

3.5 ⭐️ (rounded down bc the ending annoyed me)

I loved the prose of this book and whole chapters felt like poetry, props to the translators for doing such a great job. The plot was pretty confusing at times with plot twists not really being very surprising. I do wish we had gotten a little more resolution for all the different characters but this seemed like the kind of story to not wrap things up neatly. I do think the female characters didn't do much besides provide a pillar for the male main characters. There were multiple love interests that felt like their entire purpose in the story was to be tragic and beautiful, there was some effort to make them dynamic but not nearly as much as I would have liked in a book with so many words dedicated to the sounds a fireplace makes.

I would recommend this to people who really want a challenging read that makes you think and leaves you pondering it after you set it down.

Not my favorite from this author, but it does have some of the usual interesting outlooks and opinions about life in general we've come to expect from Murakami.
I just found however the babbling parts overshadowing everything else and never really getting to the meaning of some of the long-winded tangents.

Love the magical realism, love the writing style. It was hard to keep up with at times and I’m still not quite sure I understand it all. It’s one of those books that take a couple of reads to get the full beauty of the story.

I've never read anything by Murakami before, so I had no idea what to expect. I think I had him mentally confused with Ishiguro. This came as a wonderful surprise: it's a ghost story, it's a love story, it's a coming-of-age story, and it's magical realism. It's centered on a fictional town in a world where dreams and unicorns are real, and the people who live in both worlds. It's filled with allusions to the Beatles, jazz, Russian music, and much more, and every character is, in their own way, quite endearing. The whole book feels dreamlike, and simultaneously accessible and profound.

The best way I can describe it is to say it's like Mieville, Borges, Rushdie, and Gaiman rolled into one. And it doesn't get any better than that, does it?

As Murakami explains in the afterword, this is a retelling and expansion of a novella he published early on in his writing days, before he had the skills to tell the story the way he would have liked to. He attempted this retelling with Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, but still wasn't satisfied. The story has a lot of the usual Murakami greatness/characters/quirks that fans will enjoy. The basic premise seems particularly slippery in this one, though. There's the idea of oneself and one's shadow as two beings able to be separated and, on occasion, recombined. The idea of being spirited away. The nature of consciousness comes up, as well as the soul. Life after death. The power of belief and conviction. Hemingway and Borges get a mentions, as well as Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The nature of time, and timelessness.

There's a lot here, and I didn't even touch on the actual setting, with the real world and the city, which can be magically accessed by some, but not all.

Murakami is 75 and this felt to me like the work of someone trying to tie up some ideas and concepts that he's held and worked on through a lifetime of writing. It will be interesting to see if he writes another novel after this and, if so, if there's a shift, as this one felt like a completion of sorts.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the advanced readers copy!

Haruki Murakami’s latest novel is one of the most thought-provoking I’ve read. In these pages, we meet a man whose name we never get to know, which seems fitting, since this character feels that he does not know who he is. As a teenager, this main protagonist meets and falls in love with a girl, who is also never named. Together, they dream up a town that is surrounded by a high wall and populated with people who have been permanently separated from their shadows. His girlfriend informs him that she herself is just a shadow of her real self, who lives inside that walled town.

At this point, I started to expect a fairy tale infused with magical realism. However, the narrative became something more complicated. There are many issues to mull over here, and it’s hard to know where to begin.

Eventually, when the main character finds his way into this walled town, he experiences its many quirks. For instance, there are the town walls themselves: they do not stay in a fixed position. Also, the clocks have no hands. At first, I suspected that this was all a dream, and that it’s a statement about how reality is up for interpretation and perhaps there is no such thing as time. Later, it becomes apparent that this is not simply a dream, that the protagonist must choose his reality for himself, and also believe in his own existence.

Many events take place in this novel, and there is much to ponder. Actually, I haven’t stopped pondering, and will not be forgetting this story anytime soon. It’s a most intriguing read. Many thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and Netgalley for providing me the chance to read this in exchange for an honest review.