HARUKI MURAKAMI

“Reading Murakami, I have always been drawn to his characters. There is something in them that appeals to me, and it is this something that makes them who they are. It is this something that makes them different from any other character. Despite the losses they face in their lives, there is something light about them. They have a sense of acceptance to what happened in the course of their lives. They respond to life actively. They take hold of their reality and they dare to exile themselves from the hustle of the world. They know when to pause to examine their lives and to reunite with their true selves. It is this reunion with the self that characterizes them the most, and it is this reunion that speaks to me in particular. Murakami’s protagonists are not afraid to put their lives into question and to revive what makes them singular beings. They do not fear to reveal their vulnerability. They have an innate ability to dive into their inners and to voice their stories. They are therefore narrative beings themselves. That is to say, they are brave enough to open up and share their stories with us. They openly invite us to their narratives. “Now I think it’s time to tell my story”, the narrator of Hear the Wind Sing declares”.