By Megan Thomas
It’s definitely strange – not just the library, but the story. Good strange, though. I let some time pass before reviewing this, but it still remains clear and interesting in my mind, in an almost fable-y way.
It’s theoretically a children’s book, but in the same breath as The Little Prince or Alice In Wonderland is – very consumable for adults, with a whole other realm of possible interpretation if employing a higher level of thinking. It can be a simple story of a young boy who becomes trapped in a strange library but an even stranger brain-eating “man”, or it could be a semi-conscious fantasy symbolic of shame, fear, illness and the aftermath of childhood trauma. I’m not just being a literary annoyance when I say that, (“maybe the sky is blue because the sky is blue not because of the author’s melancholy, Mrs English Teacher” springs to mind) – the imagery has multiple meanings at every turn, and is frankly too strange for it to not be multifaceted. My first Haruki Murakami as well, which is arguably a strange one to start with – perhaps Norwegian Wood will be next.
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Thanks for sharing this! I want to pick it up now! I’ve read other books by Murakami and didn’t realize he had children’s books.
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If I’m honest, I got the impression that his style would be better with adult books, but that’s of course without having read any. Which was your favourite?
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Definitely wind-up bird chronicle. Yours?
I guess that makes sense. His style works well with the adult, oftentimes aimless characters. I wonder how he’d change that for a children’s book. I like his style a lot, then I have to remind myself it’s translated. I wonder how much that affects his style.
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