Review: Delving into the opaque

KARACHI: Haruki Murakami is a modern-day literary genius. Anyone who has read any of his works knows that he is master of the opaque, the ambiguous and the mysterious.

When I came across his book, The Strange Library, I had a fair idea about what I was delving into. However, this short novel is unique in the fact that most pages are punctuated with evocative illustrations.

The story is simple. It is about a young boy who visits his library to return some books. However, he is eager to learn about how they collected taxes in the Ottoman Empire, because like his mother said, “If you don’t know something, go to the library and look it up.”

As he requests the librarian for a book on his topic of interest, he is told to go to Room 107. As he goes down to this room, Murakami paints a haunting, almost eerie picture of a gloomy corridor and a musty basement that the boy is unfamiliar with. As he knocks on the door, you can feel yourself getting uncomfortable.

The story takes a twist here as the boy is then imprisoned by the sheep man who opens the door. He is instructed to memorise three books on tax and if in a month he hasn’t succeeded, the man will feast on this boy’s brains.

The story then follows the boy’s angst at being trapped, his worrying for his mother, and his plans to escape. He also meets a pretty girl who flits in and out of his cell, and speaks with her hands.

Murakami’s characters are always extremely unique, with idiosyncrasies that are hard to forget.  His words always do a great job of painting a vivid picture, but in this novella, we are treated to actual visual explanations.

The simplistic nature of this book leaves one wondering, what did Murakami want to convey here? Did he want to just tell a simple fantastical tale of a boy getting trapped in the basement of a library? Or is he building on an analogy? Is he making us guess a deeper meaning to this very straightforward story?

For me, it was tough to reconcile to the fact that this was just a mysterious story. Like all of Murakami’s works, you can’t just let the book rest after one read. One is almost compelled to give it a re-read.  And then some messages begin to emerge. In this one, Murakami hints at the perils of being too naïve, of being unable to “say no”. To me, this book also hints at the evil that sometimes lurks in plain sight, in familiar places, and how we can be blind to it if we aren’t vigilant. He creates an ambiance of brevity, and then seems to release the reader from its binds as the book finishes.

Created by Suzanne Dean, the design is eye-catching and is something unique in the times of e-books.

This book, it is stated, was meant for young readers, because of its design and simplistic text. But to me, it is for anyone looking for a brief break from reality, and someone brave enough to take a journey into Murakami’s brilliant yet complex mind. I am sure Murakami fans would agree.

Title: The Strange Library

Author: Haruki Murakami

ISBN: 9781473520165

Price: $11.25

The author is a published short story writer and blogger, with a background in advertising. She is a voracious reader and is passionate about travelling.
She tweets @sufipanda

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2016.

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