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Sputnik Sweetheart – A Book About Self-Discovery and Loneliness SPUTNIK Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

“A story is not something of this world. A real story requires a kind of magical baptism to link the world in this side with the world on the other side.”  Linking two sides, while allowing them to keep their essence: this is the major theme of Sputnik, another beautiful book by Murakami. Out of […]

1Q84…Probably Not Such a Fictive World After All…(wondering about 2Q20) 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

It is Murakami’s style to make the unreal become real. The fictional world becomes reality, and the reality goes away, or hides, somewhere in parallel, incognito.

A Rare Realism Piece in Murakami’s Work Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Out of all Murakami’s novels and even short stories that I have read, this one stands out. It has a realist style, without any weird dystopian elements, such as fish “raining” from the sky. Instead, it portrays human nature as it is, with its complexities, feelings, thoughts and relative strength. I read somewhere today that […]

A Story of the Living, the Dead and Those in Between Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

‘Kafka on the Shore’ is full of metaphors about life, memories, our consciousness, our super ego. Where does morality begin: in our thoughts, dreams? Is it from this stage that our responsibility starts? What about memories? It feels like they give us substance, warm us up, give us the chance to project a future. Would […]

Polemics of Identity Politics Identity by Francis Fukuyama

Reading about identity politics in these uncertain times is highly controversial and discombobulating at first. On one hand, many of the older identity conflicts have frozen, in order to focus energies fighting the pandemics. On the other hand though, political speeches of worldwide leaders, indicate that national rivalries are still boiling within. Thus, I think […]