Final Blog Post

Despite being a huge literature nerd and having an intense for love for anything Japanese, it's weird that I have never read any Murakami's works until this semester. The first time I have ever heard of him was when 1Q84 came out, and while the novel interested me, I never picked it up. I also didn't know that Murakami took so many inspirations from Western Literature. As I read more of his works, I noticed he uses a distinct pattern. The main characters are usually the ordinary type of people with special traits or some grand destiny that they must fulfill. His Boku's tend to be discontent with their current lives, although they don't realize it, and it's through a series of bizarre circumstances they go on a journey that changes them forever. But it's not the grand journey that makes them a typical "hero", it's a quiet, internal journey that makes Boku have a realization about himself and life. Murakami also likes to make the endings of his works unclear because it's a reflection of how life works. There are no definite answers to life, and his novels like to reflect reality, despite the reality-bending events that happen. Those bizarre circumstances highlight the unpredictable nature of life and the monotonous nature of the life his Boku's live before their transformation.