Some books read, Kirino and Murakami

After finishing my research, i’ve had some time to catch up on some reading. I bought 2 books by japanese authors.

1. After Dark – Haruki Murakami

2. Out – Natsuo Kirino

I must say that After Dark, kinda bored me, as before even picking up the book to read, i sorta knew what to expect. The book was thin and fonts were rather large. Unlike Kafka on the Shore which was a brilliant book, this book failed to deliver the same impact. Maybe i was comparing his book to Kirino’s crime thriller which by nature gives the reader that page turning effect. Murakami books requires dwelling into the main characters, word for word, he really wants you to understand and feel them. How his characters are normal yet an enigma. As a result, reading Kirino right after did not give his book a complete satisfying feeling. The book was translated yet again by Jay Rubin from the japanese version in 2004, アフターダーク. The story revolves mainly around 2 sisters, one alienated and lonely, un’pretty’ and can’t sleep while the other is pretty, center of attraction but can’t seem to wake up from her long slumber! The less popular sister, Mari, spends her nights in a Denny’s reading, and meets Tetsuya, a band member who has the biggest admiration for her older sister….she also meets Kaoru a manager of a love hotel…The book tells the stories of the past of these main characters, and yes which all happens after dark, in the wee hours of the morning.

Out on the other hand is a remarkable crime thriller by Natsuo Kirino. Her first english translated book. I’ve come to learn that she is the queen of crime story telling in Japan. The main theme and moral behind this story is that people can do the unimaginable when push comes to shove. And we all know, somehow, that it has something to do with this evil thing called money. This book reminds me of a show i watched years ago called The Simple Plan, starring Bill Paxton, Bridget Fonda and Billy Bob Thornton. I guess in this world, nobody is born evil, it’s probably circumstances and extremely tough choices that leads people into doing unthinkable acts. I really pity some of the characters in the book, even the character Kuniko where the author makes her the ‘bad’ one, I guess as human beings, the way we are made with such emotions, feelings and yes..pride…is really difficult sometimes to do the right thing. Sometimes, you are just way in too deep and desperate.

Some parts of the book were really well written and graphical, almost feeling and understanding the joy of pleasure and pain meeting and entwining that the author speaks of. The story was well developed, the plot excellent but from a person that reads Murakami and Mishima…adding more depth to the character would certainly turn this book to a finer read. I guess you can’t have it all…

Four women who work the night shift in a Tokyo factory that produces boxed lunches find their lives twisted beyond repair in this grimly compelling crime novel, which won Japan’s top mystery award, the Grand Prix, for its already heralded author, now making her first appearance in English. Despite the female bonding, this dark, violent novel is more evocative of Gogol or Dostoyevsky than Thelma and Louise. When Yayoi, the youngest and prettiest of the women, strangles her philandering gambler husband with his own belt in an explosion of rage, she turns instinctively for help to her co-worker Masako, an older and wiser woman whose own family life has fallen apart in less dramatic fashion. To help her cut up and get rid of the dead body, Masako recruits Yoshie and Kuniko, two fellow factory workers caught up in other kinds of domestic traps. In Snyder’s smoothly unobtrusive translation, all of Kirino’s characters are touching and believable. And even when the action stretches to include a slick loan shark from Masako’s previous life and a pathetically lost and lonely man of mixed Japanese and Brazilian parentage, the gritty realism of everyday existence in the underbelly of Japan’s consumer society comes across with pungent force.

I’ve not read a crime novel in a long time, my last being James Patterson books. I somehow went on being attached to reading books of loneliness and fixations….bummer right? Actually, come to think of it, crime novels like Out does seems to fall in that category as well. It is probably why i like it…

Just another week.

Lightning Crashes again. My Belkin modem cum router and PC was struck again. Again and again, it is getting a tad bit frustrating. You would think they would have come out with something by now. Well there are surge protectors but do they really work? Can I ever leave my PC on to download movies while I’m at work ever again? Luckily for me, I have my notebook still. Those days it was the hand phone, now you can’t help but feel empty or lost without an Internet connection. Has it come to that?! Have I not got any other distractions? I guess I do…
1. I have my PS2 now, playing that super game ‘God Of War 2’, very much like the first but I guess with more cool features. I remembered that was the game that made me switch on the PS2 again. I also bought Burnout Dominator, one of the best driving arcade games around. It’s not so easy to takeout an opponent now, and plus you can’t shove cars driving in the same direction now. I guess in that sense it’s a little more realistic now.
2. About 300 photos unedited (which I swore I’d find some time to edit them in Photoshop)
3. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser for my international marketing assignment on the fast food industry. I’m supposed to be turned off by hamburgers after finishing the book. Ha! I seriously think not! I can never turn down a good hamburger! Ever! Anyways I hope I never have to, as it is one of my favourite foods in the world. Right now I’m just at how these fast food giants are directing their ads at children. Probably not very ethical but sometimes I feel the world are just so free and they are just looking for someone to blame because they themselves did not think of the idea first. Until now, few pages into the book, I may think that but who knows later on? Maybe Schlosser might get some sense into me and make me lay off some fatty greasy goodness.

4. Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, I bought the book just to see what the big deal it was about. Have not flipped a page yet still….jikan nai yo
5. The Office Season 3 episodes 7 to 18, which I diligently download every week and compiled it into a DVD but haven’t gotten around to watching it yet.
“That’s what she said”.
6/4/07 A Case of Good After Sales Service !
So I went on and call the Belkin After Sales Service Support to check whether I can claim a brand new Router+Modem from them. And wow! It was super efficient, all they asked was what was wrong and that’s it. Within 10 minutes they sent me a authorization form to get a replacement from their sales office. I set out to the sales office immediately after work( excellent directions from the receptionist by the way), present them my damage modem (which was struck by lightning)..and I got a brand new one for free! Boy was I ever glad….I bought like 6-7 modems before, all struck by lightning (God Knows why I seem to attract lightning all the time) and none of them were actually under ‘warranty’. Well they probably were but you’d have to take it to the place where you bought it, no toll free numbers, then the salesperson would probably take a look pretending that he knows something and lastly tells you that it is not replaceable or if it is it(cause he is not sure) he’d tell me that it will be sent to the brand’s head office which will take another week or two…and of course I will have to constantly call to check on the repair status and then drive back there to collect it. And that’s if it’s repairable or replaceable. I tried that once and I had enough, I don’t mind spending a little more for a good after sales support, it is definitely worth it.
Now it’s left with my zapped phone line and PC. I can’t hope for much for the phone line, we know how efficient Telekom can be. I sent in my PC yesterday and they say they’ll look into it soon. Lets hope soon is soon. Though my PC is old, about 6 years now, I love that junk…it’s never given me any major problems and it was basically free of virus not that it had anything to do with it. All I’m saying is that it has been very faithful to me, doing tons of gigabytes of downloads, syncing my Ipod, my Ipaq, my Palm Vx, doing my uni assignments, starcraft, battle realms, counterstrike…it has been quite an experience indeed. I hope it is ok, and I can’t wait to see it again!

8/4/07 Chelsea to take the Premiership?
Seeing that my line is still down. I decided to come to Starbucks to have an espresso and surf a little before heading down to the library. A little wake me up in the morning. I like the posterized effect on the picture, a very contemporary touch to it don’t you think?
Kudos to Chelsea, or rather kudos to David James of Portsmouth for that few fantastic saves. And many thanks to Ferdinand’s blunder for that wonderful, wonderful! (in the manner Elaine of Seinfeld) own goal! I was shocked, happy but shocked that the great Red Devils could still falter. What can I say, luck is on Jose’s side. This effectively cuts the Devils lead by 3 points! Is that exciting or what?!
Moral of the story….you just gotta believe!
I’m not like saying that Chelsea is gonna win already but, now with about 6 matches left to play…anything is possible.

Haruki Murakami 春樹村上 Norwegian Wood (Borders Book Club)

Next Borders Book Club will feature Norwegian Wood, again by my favourite author Haruki Murakami. Should be quite a discussion seeing that this is my favourite book from this remarkable author. I still can remember the feeling of sadness it gave me after reading it. It was one of my first Murakami book after I read the bizarre dreamy Wind Up Bird Chronicle. I attempted many books of his and they never fail to disappoint. He just has the right touch of elements in a book that makes me curious all the time. Please note though, that all his stories has striking resemblances of his main character. Thus, if you can’t take the first book you read from him then you might as well give up on the rest. His books are usually mixing the real world and what he calls the dream world. I get lost sometimes I must admit when his characters enters this non-reality world. His books, the translated ones anyways are a pretty easy read and doesn’t leave much to ponder, unlike Mishima’s books, where almost every paragraph is like a poetry.

Fact is, Norwegian Wood is his only book (full length book, excluding the short stories) without the dreams element in it. I would recommend this book to anyone, plus, there are many great tracks in there to look out for as well…Here is a picture which I enlarged from the cover of Norwegian Wood to make it into a decorative picture in my room.. Cool ain;t it?  Date : 1^st December 2006

Place: Borders Book Store , The Curve

Haruki Murakami 春樹村上 Kafka on the Shore (Borders Book Club)

Haruki Murakami 春樹村上 KAFKA ON THE SHORE

So I went for this book club thingy at Borders, The Curve. I was early, anyways, I planned on having my dinner there and just to quickly browse through the featured book. Initially I planned on having some delicious Swedish Meatballs at the café in Ikea. Ooops. Break fast time! Loads and heaps of people there, I decided on a double cheese burger at A&W instead. I gotta admit I didn’t know what I have gotten myself into, I mean should I just forget about the whole thing and join in some online forum on the book. Plus, I’ve already decided that I wasn’t really gonna talk. I’ll just nod profusely and an occasional, “Hmm, very interesting take on that subject”, “I totally agree!”. I guess I could go through the whole ordeal without being noticed. Nevertheless, I was there, drove there, ate there.. I might as well go see what’s it all about and if it does turn out so bad.. I’ll just have to drive to KL and get my books from Kinokuniya.  

(ah lovely is raining now…and I’m playing the closing theme song from the soundtrack of Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X)..a lovely complement to this weather. Ah, should do something to that pesky burnt smell in the air caused by the haze) 

On with the show. I was early, this girl saw me (Shirley) holding a Murakami book. “ah you must be here for the book club” We chatted a little. Then the rest came, this lecturer by the name of
Adrian, the Moderators Brian and Jade. There were 5 of us. Fuck me! I surely have to talk now! I was looking at all directions, ok there’s an exit on the left, and one through the main entrance…ok this is no Alcatraz…I can my escape anytime and still buy books in Kinokuniya. The chairs were arranged in a circle with no table in the middle. Oh gosh! Are we gonna hold hands and summon some force up from above? Great! The George Coztanza in me! We introduced ourselves. Brian, this guy from UK, started the ball rolling. The ball came straight down at me with no signs of stopping. “How did you find the book?”I guess I could have pull a Jerry Seinfeld,” The book? Is that what it’s called now? Why do they even call it a book?” But that would baffled everyone at how stupid this guy, me, is. Well, I took the rolling ball, and gave it a slight nudge. “I like it very much, after all he is my favourite author, and my favourite author never fails to impress me.” I was a bit reserved at first but I was astonished at how I was the only one that read more of his books than anyone else there. I was like a Murakami Encyclopedia. I could share facts that no one knew about. I was indeed starting to have a good time. 

たのしいですね！

Several times the discussion went out of topic which was very fine by me, as it became more of a few friends just hanging out and sharing experiences. It does help that the moderators were very opened in all aspects of the discussion and very accommodative as well. We talked about Asian cultures, movies, conforming to society standards, questioning life, Murakami’s views and thoughts and even our personal lives. もちろん, the most important thing was we see how different people think differently about the book and Murakami himself. I guess, you have some people out there that share the same passion with you. Not everybody understands why anybody would read about folks that talk to cats and about boys that sleeps with their moms. The next book is Nick Hornby’s A Long Way Down. The same dude that wrote About A Boy and High Fidelity. I’ve not read any of his stuff but through the synopsis it sounds mighty interesting. The next meeting will take place on the 3^rd November, same place and same time.In conclusion, I did enjoy the evening, I guess it kind of feels that you apart of something. If anything else, at least it was something different for a change, you know, a drink or two kinda thing. The whole session lasted about 2 hours, just talking and talking.

Borders Book CLub – Kafka On The Shore

Kafka On The Shore – Haruki Murakami

The feature title for the next Border’s Book Club meet. I’ve never attended meets like these before, probably is because I’ve got nothing much to say or contribute, as I’m not such a chatty person when in the company of strangers. I hate people that are way too outspoken hence attending these meets would mean irritating the shit out of me as there is bound to be a couple of them. However, as humans we always have exceptions, how boring and predictable species we are, contradicting all the time. My exception was the feature book above. He is after all one of my favourite author if not the favourite. I have read many of his works; they are all pretty similar actually. Maybe I’ll turn out to be the loud mouth maggot in the discussion. Who knows?I did ask the girl at the information counter when registering my name whether I had to talk or you know contribute. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Sounds mighty fine by me. “But you have to read the book though”. “Yes I know, I have read it before.”

I decided to read it one more round. I’m ¼ way through now. I’m at the part where Oshima the librarian drives Kafka to his log cabin below the mountains because Kafka needs a roof over his head for the time being. Anyways, Murakami did mention in an interview that you have to read it more than once to fully understand the meaning behind the meaning kinda thing. I’m not a meaning behind the meaning kinda guy. I guess I take things based on face value, what you see is what you get. I guess we are all just glad sometimes that we are part of something ‘deep’. “That was some deep shit”. In Murakami, I feel somewhat deep. Not too deep, but deep enough and especially when he goes into one of those dreams. Kinda like some flash floods in KL where the roads are flooded but the car is still able to move. Some metaphor… It must be the heavy rain in Bangsar the other day. (Don’t digest that, just read on)

Anyways, I should finish the book by the 7^th October where they will have the discussion at Starbucks. Oh did I mention a free cuppa as well? I still can’t believe I’m joining one of these groups, god forbid should I ever grow to like it. Let me not hate it too much as well.