Play Book Tag discussion

The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami - 4* - My Review

Blending the real and surreal, this book is an unusual tale featuring an unnamed protagonist, his first love, the ghost of a head librarian, a teenager with savant syndrome, and a city that exists outside of time. Its structure includes three parts. Part One is a coming-of-age story of the seventeen-year-old protagonist who thinks he has fallen in love with a sixteen-year-old girl but has really interacted only with her shadow. The real girl lives in the city with uncertain walls. Only those with “special qualifications” can enter the city and upon entering, must separate from their shadows. The protagonist finds his way to the city and becomes a dream reader. Part Two shifts back to the real world, where the protagonist is older. He moves away from Tokyo to become the head librarian of a town in the mountains, taking the place of the former head librarian, who is a ghost. The ghost is familiar with the surreal city. Part Three follows the protagonist’s search for the teen with savant syndrome, who has suddenly vanished.

This is a fantastical story that includes Murakami’s trademark topics. It is a slow burn and often leaves the reader wondering (or mystified) as to the point of it all. I did not love reading it but at the end I got a vague sense of meaning. It is, of course, about walls, particularly those manufactured by the mind or (possibly) by society. It is also about stories and dreams that exist outside of time. I am certain that different readers will interpret it in diverse ways. It would be a good one to discuss with a group.