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| My field note, this magical novel, coffee, and Kenari nuts. It was taken in Ternate Island, 21.09.2021 Killing Commendatore - Haruki Murakami Random House US - 2019 |
When fiction is strong enough to alter the non-fiction world
It was three years ago (time flies!) when I bought this novel from my friend. For context, I was already familiar with Murakami's work in the past, a fanboy you might say. I knew that most of Murakami's novels or short stories were magical or surreal, but this novel went further.
This novel reminded me of his earlier novel entitled "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles". Both share the same nuance - sort of. Both have a main character of a man in his 30s who has "problems" in his family. I won't go into the similarities or differences, but it is interesting to see how the background of the main character in both or in other Murakami novels.
I myself, also a man in my 30s, and although I don't relate to the plot of the novel, there are little things that are related. For example, the anxiety to find a job, or at a time when work is boring and you need to look for different alternatives to enjoy a harmonious life. It is at this intersection that the magical world appears in different episodes of life. Now this is interesting.
I read this novel in different places, five provinces in about a month. Transit from airport to airport became the right space and time to read this book, as well as on the plane. Seeing people in different public places made me think about the story in this novel.
A portrait painter, a man in his thirties, finds his marriage at an end when his wife files for divorce. 'Playing around' is the main reason, and during the man's journey of seclusion in a small town, he meets a young girl whom he imagines to be his child. It's a strange thing, and it becomes even stranger when the imaginary characters in the Commander's play materialize as hallucinations or inexplicable realities.
I finished reading the novel in a well-known hotel on the island of Ternate, which has an old architecture that suggests an ideal tropical place for travelers or perhaps people from the West. I imagined the hotel to be identical to one of the buildings Murakami describes in the novel. When fiction is so strong, it can change the life of non-fiction, or what we call reality. But is this reality nonfiction, or is it a projection of fiction? Aren't buildings and their architecture born of the imagination of their creators?
In the various cities I've mentioned before, I've had some strange experiences. Which to me and the few people who were with me when they happened: they were real. I'm not going to tell you about this strange experience. But it was so strange that I asked the person next to me who also experienced it, "Did this really happen? He nodded and replied softly: Yes. And neither of us knew what or why that was.
One thing is for sure, for me, good writing is able to provoke its readers to at least think or even act. And that's what makes this novel easily the best novel in my opinion.
After I finished reading this novel, I poured out the strange feelings from reading it by writing some poems and short stories. I was quite satisfied with the poems and short stories I made. And it's a good sign that Murakami managed to provoke me in a strange and magical way.
As the reviewers listed on the book's cover said, this novel is indeed magical. This novel is worth reading once in your life, it's just that I suggest that you really enjoy reading it and take your time. This novel is quite thick and the story is long, also with a rather slow pacing, maybe that's what makes the story stick in your mind and even be projected onto thoughts and actions. You just have to take your time and read it without rushing.