tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9832114.post111085977807054056..comments2009-07-14T01:43:03.073-07:00good old ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454702773523287540noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9832114.post-1110913174444937512005-03-15T10:59:00.000-08:002005-03-15T10:59:00.000-08:00from the two books i've read (HBW, N. Wood) i think you've hit the nail on the head. there's even a vanishing old man in NW, arguably mad. - Which scene i now recall i wanted to write about! There's a scene where our mystically bemused hero spends an afternoon with our wild maiden's dying father in his hospital room. the father can barely speak or emote, and our hero basically just pretends he can and talks to him like you talk to anybody and this basic human treatment more or kindles a tiny spark of life in the old man. it's a very beautiful few pages.<BR/><BR/>anyhow, yes, there's a sameness of texture going on but it's sort of like the sameness of jasmine- it's really hard to tire of.good old ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14454702773523287540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9832114.post-1110912665914856902005-03-15T10:51:00.000-08:002005-03-15T10:51:00.000-08:00i haven't read Norwegian Wood (yet), but Murakami's character structure seems to repeat itself: mystically bemused, isolated young man, disappearing women who run the archetypal gamut (maiden, mother, crone, virgin, whore, etc.) while still remaining aloof, a mad, vanishing old man, & a mysteriously meaningful animal.<BR/><BR/>but this repetition (generally) doesn't dull the work at all; if it's like classical music it's a fugue, subtle variations in repetitions of a theme.<BR/><BR/>there's my literary rant for the day. <I>HBW</I> is my favorite, maybe b/c it was my first. <I>Sputnik Sweetheart</I> was also really charming.jenn seehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15500169883283297871noreply@blogger.com