South of the Border, West of the Sun

Honestly, this book just felt like one long, sex-driven, fever dream.

Was Shimamoto even real?

Why is Hajime so painfully unlikeable?

Why are affairs so normalised in the text?

Why did I read this book?

On the plus side, there was far fewer unnecessary mentions of breasts in this book. Women seem to have been objectified to a lesser degree, however, that could just be down to the book being on the shorter side. Add on another 100 pages and I'm sure the "breast" quota would have increased exponentially. Our protagonist, Hajime, is lonely because of course he is. Just like most of Murakami's male leads he's lonely. Hajime's life is a comfortable one. He's married, has two daughters and is financially well off but he is still sad and lonely. Boohoo! The only solution to his loneliness is sex. Not sex with his wife though, sex with his childhood friend who he's been hung up on for years and who just so happens to mysteriously re-enter his life precisely when he needs her.

Image from Goodreads

The book begins with Shimamoto and Hajime as children. Shimamoto wasn't much to look at however Hajime "was certain that in a few years she'd be gorgeous (Murakami, p.6). I understand they were both children however there is still something a little unsettling about commenting on the "swell" of an 11/12 year old girls breasts (Murakami, p.11). We already know that whether you're a child or a woman, comments on your breasts are to be expected. Physical appearances are very important in this text. For example, throughout the book there is persistent emphasis placed on Shimamoto's bad left leg. A polio diagnosis in childhood left her dragging her leg for the rest of her life. This impediment became her defining feature. Despite her striking beauty, it was her bad leg that was most notable. Shimamoto is known exclusively by her surname, it adds to the mystery of her I suppose. On the topic of names, Hajime's daughters both remain nameless for the duration of the text. They're always acknowledged as "my daughters", asserting his ownership over them. At least his wife is named, however, poor Yukiko doesn't seem to get many other privileges beyond that.

The handling of infidelity in this text is baffling to me; "when my wife was pregnant I'd had a few flings, but nothing serious...I never felt like I was having an affair with a capital A. I just wanted someone to sleep with"(Murakami, p.64). The problem I have with the portrayal of Hajime's unfaithfulness is that he gets away with it to begin with, in the instances he mentions here, and suffers no consequences. Similarly, with his first girlfriend Izumi, Hajime cheated with her cousin and this act destroyed Izumi completely. It is shown in the text that she never recovered from the betrayal. It destroyed her life while Hajime faired just fine, only burdened with a slight guilt that doesn't seem to bother him persistently, only arising sporadically throughout the novel.

Yukiko's own father encourages her husband,his son-in-law, to be unfaithful. "It's strange for me saying this to my daughters husband, but actually i think a fling or two on the side isn't all that bad. It refreshes you" (Murakami, p.116). However, it's important to select the right mistress; "Don't get involved with some worthless piece of tail. Do that and you'll soon be worthless yourself" (Murakami, p.116). You also can't get with too posh of a woman because it makes it tough to "return to what's waiting for you at home" (Murakami,p.117). Waiting at home, like a dutiful wife should be. Yukiko is devalued and disrespected by both her husband and her own father. Not only that, when Hajime is having sex with Yukiko, his wife, he is thinking about Shimamoto; "but all the time I was inside her [Yukiko], it was Shimamoto I saw. I closed my eyes and felt I was holding Shimamoto. And I came violently" (Murakami, p.120).

Does Hajime get his comeuppance? Does he learn a valuable lesson? Does he improve and become a better person/father/husband? No, not really. Hajime and Shimamoto go away for the weekend, she expresses a desire to kill them both, they have sex and then in the morning she disappears and is gone forever. Hajime returns home, back to his sad lonely self. He realises he has hurt Yukiko but even as the married couple are discussing their issues, Hajime is absolved of responsibility to some degree; "nothing in her [Yukiko's] words seemed to blame me" (p.183). Yukiko knows Hajime loves someone else but still wants to stay with him and so the pair decide to stay together. Hajime makes the decision to let Shimamoto go.

In the end I was left wondering if Shimamoto even existed. Hajime fantasized about her so much and so intensely and then once he had had sex with her, she was gone. That's what he desired so badly and for so long that once he got it, the fantasy ended. No need for Shimamoto anymore. She was just a sexual fantasy, a wet dream. Just another affair but, maybe this time, with the capital A.

The most enjoyable part of the book was the soundtrack that Murakami created. Hajime runs two very popular jazz bars in Tokyo so we've got some good tunes to get us through the book at least. Here's a link to a playlist of these songs:

Works Cited

Murakami, Haruki. South of the Border, West of the Sun. Vintage, 1998.