Reviews with content warning for Child death - Gefährliche Geliebte

Enjoyable reading, even though the topics Haruki Murakami covers in this book are not easy to read. Not a fan of how Murakami led the romantic trope and the mood he tried to give. Also, I've noticed that he has a kind of obsession with mysterious mental ill girls, he seems to like dream pixie girl vibes.

I liked how he criticized the capitalism in Japan and how Hajime's life is created and influenced by this economic doctrine (introduced during his late 30s by his father in law). Good reading, but I didn't love it, there wasn't actually a story in this book.

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lastbloom's review against another edition

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challenging dark

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

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minzzi's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Hajime is a selfpitting, sex obsessed asshole who is incapable of seeing the women he says he loves as full human beings and because of that he ends up treating all of then like shit ( just look at what he did to Izumi and Yukiko. And Shimamoto was so obviously depressed and all he could think about was how much he wanted to have sex with her. What an idiot). However, I fell like that was the point of his character, you are not supposed to like him.
Shimamoto, on the other hand, was so interesting to me (again, finding her interesting is probably the point of the book). All though most of her character is just "beautiful mysterious lady", I think you can extract much more from her. She is a ghost (metaphorically or literally, depends on your opinion), a omen of the past, here to hunt Hajime and remind him what his life could have been while at the same time trying to give her life some sense of normalcy.
Sadly, a don't know anything about Japan's internal politics and economy, so a lot of the political criticism and references to historical events went over my head.

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h_motionless's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

South of the Border, West of the Sun is one of those short Murakami books which doesn’t overstay its welcome. The story is told beautifully but with minimal detail in terms of explanation of events. It feels hazy, almost like a dream, and a large amount of it is left to the reader for interpretation. As always with Murakami, you’re left with more questions than answers by the time the book ends, but this is absolutely not a negative thing. It’s more pleasant than frustrating; only Murakami can leave me with ambiguity and a simultaneous satisfaction.

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nienora's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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