Kim Miller
Two stories intertwine in this fascinating delving into one man's psyche.
In one story a man enters a strange town and is given the job of reading old dreams. A condition of life in the town is that he has to leave his shadow at the gate and so the Gatekeeper severs the two and the shadow is confined to a back yard shack. The man then spends his time in the library gently holding the skulls of unicorns, reading the dreams that emanate from them.
The second story is of a man who is retained to examine and compile a large batch of scientific data through a process of 'shuffling' which takes place in his mind when he goes into a trance state. The ability to do shuffling results from a brain implant that taps into hidden layers of consciousness in his mind.
As the stories progress there are hints of how these two stories are related. And by about the half way point it's becoming apparent that the two accounts, though different, are mirrors of each other. By 75% in we are guessing that the two men are the same person and one story is of his outer circumstances and the other story is of his inner unconscious life.
Towards the final stages of the book both men face an impossible 'stay or go' decision. And as the two stories coalesce we are left in deep sadness of the outcome.
Murakami's writing is mystical and the stories are phantasmagorical. As the book progresses the prose becomes like a calm sea of warm water that enfolds us such that even as we see the inevitability of the ending, and we hope that it be otherwise, we are comforted by the prose at the story's sad finality.
Two stories intertwine in this fascinating delving into one man's psyche.
In one story a man enters a strange town and is given the job of reading old dreams. A condition of life in the town is that he has to leave his shadow at the gate and so the Gatekeeper severs the two and the shadow is confined to a back yard shack. The man then spends his time in the library gently holding the skulls of unicorns, reading the dreams that emanate from them.
The second story is of a man who is retained to examine and compile a large batch of scientific data through a process of 'shuffling' which takes place in his mind when he goes into a trance state. The ability to do shuffling results from a brain implant that taps into hidden layers of consciousness in his mind.
As the stories progress there are hints of how these two stories are related. And by about the half way point it's becoming apparent that the two accounts, though different, are mirrors of each other. By 75% in we are guessing that the two men are the same person and one story is of his outer circumstances and the other story is of his inner unconscious life.
Towards the final stages of the book both men face an impossible 'stay or go' decision. And as the two stories coalesce we are left in deep sadness of the outcome.
Murakami's writing is mystical and the stories are phantasmagorical. As the book progresses the prose becomes like a calm sea of warm water that enfolds us such that even as we see the inevitability of the ending, and we hope that it be otherwise, we are comforted by the prose at the story's sad finality.