South of the Border, West of the Sun

A Novel

By: Haruki Murakami, Philip Gabriel - translator

Narrated by: Eric Loren

Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

South of the Border, West of the Sun is the beguiling story of a past rekindled, and one of Haruki Murakami’s most touching novels.

Hajime has arrived at middle age with a loving family and an enviable career, yet he feels incomplete. When a childhood friend, now a beautiful woman, shows up with a secret from which she is unable to escape, the fault lines of doubt in Hajime’s quotidian existence begin to give way. Rich, mysterious, and quietly dazzling, in South of the Border, West of the Sun the simple arc of one man’s life becomes the exquisite literary terrain of Murakami’s remarkable genius.

©2010 Haruki Murakami (P)2013 Random House Audio

Emotional, deep in thought

Loved the book! It's full real life situations and thoughts, ideas that actually leave you thinking after reading... Ideas that leave you deep in thought about your own love life, about how love feels like itself and how fragile a life and or relationships can be.

Another great one from Murakami

Life is full of different experiences and challenges. Once again Murakami has given us a small peek at the unending possibilities of life and it’s lessons, as well as something to think about.

Same World

Haruki Murakami has this unique gift at putting the reader in the same world in each book. Whenever I start reading any of his books, I'm instantly transported in the same place where I left off in a different story. If you are not a fan of this author, you won't understand at what I'm talking about. All of his books has a similar theme to them. The characters might be named differently, but they all follow the same path of metaphors.

"South of the Border, West of the Sun" is one of the best short novels that I've read from Haruki Murakami. It's hard to explain how I feel about this book because Murakami is one of my favorite authors that I enjoy reading. This book might be better than his well known titles because it's well put together with perfect tone.

Referencing South of the Boarder from Nat King Cole is something that you expect from his author. His books are almost like poetry.

Interesting relationships, bland voice-acting

The story of this is just about an average Japanese male going through the tedium of life, like many Murakami novels. Like many Murakami novels, this man falls in love with a woman, to the point of obsession, however, he's married and has two children. The rest of the book revolves around this and how this obsession affects and changes his life, maybe for the better?

I really enjoyed the book, I think that it is very dry, for a Murakami book, but the length makes up for it. The relationships and how these relationships reflect upon the protagonist are maybe the most interesting part of the book. If you've ever read Murakami before, you know many of his protagonists are typically the silent, stoic, yet self-absorbed type. This is still the case in South of the Border, but Murakami reflects on this character-type and analyses how these kind of people actually work in the world, as well as how they affect the people around them, maybe for the worse?

The narration is alright, it's very bland, but kind of plays into the monotony of the protagonist's life. It doesn't make it that easy to listen to, unfortunately.

Overall, good Murakami in its shortest form.

Superb version of a wonderful book

Superb version of a beautiful book that I read many years ago one of the best by Haruki Murakami

Una historia sobre cómo madurar

El poder de las conexiones profundas, cómo un pedazo de nuestra alma se va con algunas personas y la tormenta emocional que trae consigo la espera.
Pero sobre todo, el peso de las decisiones y cómo forjan nuestra vida.

ok

this took a while to get into... my least favourite of his books so far but it gets better as it goes on.

A bit disappointed

I chose this novel because it had good reviews and was written by an author from, and took place in a world far from mine. As it turns out, my mom who is a few months younger than the main character and grew up in Montana, is way more exotic and interisting as a person.

One of the weaker Murakami novels

I’ve read about 90% of murakami’s works including his non-fiction and short stories. This work doesn’t go anywhere fast and as much as Murakami uses mood to create story- it doesn’t work when it’s 85% aesthetic and 15% plot movement.

The main character is unlikeable and the ending is rushed- no real character development to speak of.

I love Murakami, he’s still my favorite author but his mechanics are unrecognizable to me here.

My first Murakami, I'm amazed

listened it to completion when driving back to the city, was completely immersed and addicted to it. just stood in the kitchen for 15 minutes till it ended, so enthralled and needing to see the ending