Haruki Murakami - Norwegian Wood

[khiemtran]

As I said over at asakiyume's journal, I wish I knew how he did it. In plot terms, this should be a really depressing story, judging by the number of suicides and mental breakdowns and the passive behaviour of the protagonists. In practice though, it's exhilerating, full of highs and lows, and wonderful characters, laid over the turmoil and energy of Sixties Japan.

Actually, I think I do know how he does it.


There's one tiny vignette where the protagonist is working in a record store and a girl comes in and asks him to put Jumping Jack Flash. She proceeds to dance around the store swinging her hips and clicking her fingers.

I read that bit and thought 'That's it right there!' That's how he does it. There's a beat that pulses through the pages, not too quick, not too slow, with tantalising shifts at each change. Murakami's one of those writers whose real art is not how he describes a scene (although who knows, maybe in the original Japanese he's really good), but in what he chooses to follow it up with next. There's a really rhythm: start with a novel idea, follow it up and stretch it as far as it will go, and then, just at the crucial moment, switch to the next idea, which changes everything before it.

Or at least that's how it seems to me.

The other aspect, of course, is that the characters are all great. They're not very realistic, but that's kind of the point. I don't think they're meant to be real people so much as spirits who teach different things to the protagonist. Even though there's no literal magic, this feels as much like Magic Realism as his other stories. (The guy only has to eat alone in a restaurant to have strange women come up to talk to him. Twice. How much more fantastical do you want?)

And you have to work hard to get a name in a Murakami novel. If you're not interesting enough forget it. Even some of the speaking parts don't get names or screen time if they haven't earned it. There are some real lessons there about choosing the right characters for your story (and it has to be said, if you do get named, then watch out - but what a ride!)

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'm really interested in what you say about characters. I've been thinking a lot about characters and what people mean when they talk about character-driven stories.

The guy only has to eat alone in a restaurant to have strange women come up to talk to him. Twice. How much more fantastical do you want?

--perhaps if you're Murakami, it happens fairly often!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I'm really interested in what you say about characters. I've been thinking a lot about characters and what people mean when they talk about character-driven stories.

Hmm. I'm not sure if that's what you mean by a character-driven story, but I think in this kind of story, the characters really just serve as guides for the protagonist (consciously or otherwise). The protagonist can actually be remarkably passive, because the guides are supplying most of the energy (think Gandalf and Bilbo in The Hobbit).

It doesn't sound like a very interesting story (and maybe a bit contrived), but when I sat down to think of it, I came to realise that lots of my favourite stories follow this pattern. Actually if you say "Character meets guides who teach them about themselves" you've probably got most of litfic right there. Not to mention legends and fairy stories.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I think what you describe is **not** what's popularly referred to as "character-driven fiction," but it's a style of story-telling that I like, too.