Just finished reading another great piece by one of my favorite authors, Murakami!
The story basically revolves around the life of Hajime, the leading character who has a childhood friend called Shimamoto whom he grew up with until she left at the age of 12. Without Shimamoto in his life, Hajime has always been feeling that something really important is missing in his life. Even until he has married Yukiko whom he also loved, gifted with two lovely daughters and made a really good living out of a posh bar that he owns and manages, called the Robin's Nest. Despite living such a happy life, Hajime has been living his days passionlessly. Feeling that every day is just a repetition of the day before. Then his world changes upside-down when he encountered Shimamoto again and the two started to spend more time together. Hajime is then trapped between the choice of keeping his current happy life or to throw everything he has for the sake of being with Shimamoto, whom he felt was his other half. After months of restraining himself, Hajime finally decided that he wanted to be with Shimamoto and lost his control. However, in the end, Shimamoto disappeared once again from his life. Only this time, she's gone forever without a trace and it nearly drove Hajime mad. I could assume that it's a happy ending though, as Hajime finally reunited with his wife and claimed that he wanted to start a 'brand new day'.
Seriously, I was already reading this book some time ago but then stopped because I suddenly lost it. Thankfully, I rekindled with it yesterday while rummaging through my old stuff, I sighed in relief when I caught the sight of this 186 pages of goodness.
The story basically revolves around the life of Hajime, the leading character who has a childhood friend called Shimamoto whom he grew up with until she left at the age of 12. Without Shimamoto in his life, Hajime has always been feeling that something really important is missing in his life. Even until he has married Yukiko whom he also loved, gifted with two lovely daughters and made a really good living out of a posh bar that he owns and manages, called the Robin's Nest. Despite living such a happy life, Hajime has been living his days passionlessly. Feeling that every day is just a repetition of the day before. Then his world changes upside-down when he encountered Shimamoto again and the two started to spend more time together. Hajime is then trapped between the choice of keeping his current happy life or to throw everything he has for the sake of being with Shimamoto, whom he felt was his other half. After months of restraining himself, Hajime finally decided that he wanted to be with Shimamoto and lost his control. However, in the end, Shimamoto disappeared once again from his life. Only this time, she's gone forever without a trace and it nearly drove Hajime mad. I could assume that it's a happy ending though, as Hajime finally reunited with his wife and claimed that he wanted to start a 'brand new day'.
The existence of Shimamoto herself remains dubious for me. Was there really a special person called Shimamoto? My assumption is that the idea of 'Shimamoto' itself is Hajime's something at the west of the sun. Perhaps Hajime has been suffering from the Siberian syndrome that was mentioned by Shimamoto in the novel. He has been suffering from living his days repetitively to the extent that it has become surreal and drove him insane. Shimamoto perhaps, is something that he chases untiringly yet unconsciously. She doesn't exist.
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