8 Haruki Murakami Tropes And What They Really Mean

by Brian Wilson

1. Ambiguous Endings

What It Is: An ambiguous ending is any ending that doesn't clearly define the outcome of the story. If you've read a couple Murakami novels, chances are you've encountered this. A couple examples of Murakami novels that contain ambiguous endings are Norwegian Wood and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years Of Pilgrimage.

What It Really Means: As mentioned before, Murakami is primarily interested in exploring the perpetual variety of life, so it's not surprising that his endings tend to side more with reality than fiction. In real life, happy endings rarely last more than a few days. Murakami stories simply don't end with his protagnists marching hand in hand into a clichéd sunset €“ they're uncertain. From a literary standpoint, the ambiguous ending reaps the benefits of multiple endings (and technically none at all) by letting the reader imagine what might come next. A great example of this is found in Murakami's 2014 novel Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years Of Pilgrimage, in which the reader is never sure whether or not Tsukuru ever hears back from Sara. Not only does this allow for multiple interpretations, it stays true to the melancholy tone present in the vast majority of Murakami's work.
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Contributor

Commonly found reading, sitting firmly in a seat at the cinema (bottle of water and a Freddo bar, please) or listening to the Mountain Goats.