Murakami Is Magic

Day 332 / 366

If you have been reading my blog posts for a while you would know that I am a huge Murakami fan. And I was delighted when I found out that his new book was coming out this year — “The City And Its Uncertain Walls”. I pre-ordered it months ago, and it finally got delivered today.

Just to give you a bit of context about my reading habits these days, It has been months since I finished a book. I had been skipping my book club meetings as well. I still buy new books every now and then, but I have never been able to read more than 2–3 pages of any of them. I even thought recently that I would go back to non-fiction books since they felt easier to read.

I opened this book as soon as I received it, and within minutes I was done reading the first chapter. It’s the same old Murakami, I was instantly reminded of the feeling I got when reading Norwegian Wood, or Wind-up Bird Chronicles, or Kafka on the Shore. Usually, books take 50–100 pages of dedicated reading before they feel like page-turners to me. But this one has me hooked since page 1.

Take all of this with a pinch of salt though, because these feelings are highly subjective. I have tried to get a lot of people to read Murakami, and I have failed. For me, reading any Murakami novel has always been life-changing, and starting this book feels like starting a new season of a TV Show that I like.