10 Common Themes Of Murakami Novels - And What They Mean
4. Murakami's Weird Worlds
One of the most striking parts of Murakami's literary works that makes them so fascinating to read is the surreal worlds they take us to.
In Hard Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World, we not only visit a cyberpunk-esque dystopian future, but journey to an isolated town where the inhabitants' shadows are cut off, whereas 1Q84 sees the two protagonists slip into an alternate version of Tokyo where two moons hang in the sky. There are few authors who can compete with Murakami's imagination.
There is method in the madness, however. These beautifully surreal and strange worlds are the places of metaphorical journeys as much as they are literal ones.
Perhaps, though, no one can phrase this better than the author himself. In an interview with The Guardian he explains
People say my books are weird, but beyond the weirdness, there should be a better world. It’s just that we have to experience the weirdness before we get to the better world. That’s the fundamental structure of my stories: you have to go through the darkness, through the underground, before you get to the light.
No matter how strange and hopeless things look, Murakami reminds us that they can get better.