In the world of modern high fantasy, there is a giant named Brandon Sanderson, notorious among his fans for his use of the 'Sanderlanche'. While his volumes are normally within the thousands of pages, the majority of them are used purely to build up the world surrounding the characters and their relationships, before the last hundred or so pages floods the reader with action, resolution, and conclusion - a traditional hero's journey, with an extra hard kick at the end. When I read Sanderson's stories, I always find myself waiting for those last hundred pages, where emotions begin boiling and I find myself absolutely stuck to the book until the end.
When I read Murakami, I find nothing like that, and yet I still found myself drawn in to the last section of Norwegian Wood. While the structures are there, they are not as well defined as a generic fantasy adventure would be, in my opinion. Major events preceding story beats in Murakami don't seem to be specifically led into - rather, they just happen, spontaneously, and we are left with characters struggling to continue through the fallout. In this way, there seems to be a hidden undercurrent carrying us through the triangular journeys of Toru. I found this apparent especially after Toru learns of Naoko's death, and his physical travels through the backroads of Japan and his psychological travels toeing the line between the land of life and death. As Toru finds himself pulled farther and farther to Naoko, to the point of speaking with her (supposedly), I found myself inexplicably swept along his footsteps, unable to take my eyes off the pages.
I had a similar sensation with A Wild Sheep Chase, and I find it amazing how Murakami employs this undercurrent not only to advance his characters, but to advance the reader as well. When Toru returns from his fugue, when Boku rides the train back from the mountain, so too do I close the book with new thoughts, new ideas, new views on the world.
Oscar
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