"The Outsider" by Albert Camus (1949)

 

Without beating around the bush, Camus sets the tone of his novella with the line, "Mother died today". The Outsider, or The Stranger, introduces Meursault, an Algerian-born French whose mother died in a home, and how he continued with his humdrum daily life as nothing of any significance had happened recently, leading him eventually to commit an unplanned act of violence. 

The prose is straightforward, painfully descriptive, and somewhat prosaic. Personally, I found it hard to relate to the protagonist. Even though he exhibits a rational and realistic approach to viewing the world, he lacks imagination, creativity, and aspirations for the future. It comes as no surprise since Meursault is the outcome of viewing the world as inherently meaningless and with no purpose, which is basically what the book is trying to communicate. 

The Outsider is praised as one of the most influential books of the 20th century.  I can imagine why since it was released in a time when talking about the absurdity of life was unheard of and even taboo. 

"Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck (1937)

This caught me by surprise! I'd never expected a classic to be such a dizzyingly gripping experience. All I ever knew of this book was a reference from Lost. 

The novella centers around two companions, George and Lennie. Antithetical to each other, George is the bright one while Lennie, as big as he is, has the brain of a child. The pair of nomads go from one trouble to the next, searching for a place to lie low and work. The problem is that Lennie always gets them into trouble.

The story is linear and straightforward, but tension lurks in every interaction. Steinbeck has an excellent command of how to draw readers' attention, making their brains go wild imagining the worst happening to the characters.

One of my best scenes was when Carlson had to put down Candy's senile dog and Candy's comment later, "I oughtta shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't oughtta of let no strangers shoot my dog". And how it mirrors George's reaction at the end. That was simply brilliant foreshadowing!

Of Mice and Men tackles many themes like companionship, but to my surprise, the book screams  'loneliness'. Every single character is so terrified of being left all alone: 

• Curely's wife who keeps popping out of nowhere looking for her "husband"
• Candy who refuses to let go of his ancient dog 
• Crooks who's sick and tired of having the four walls of his room and the books as his company and who also envies Lennie because he has George
• Lennie whose biggest fear is George ditching him

The non-diverting nature of the themes makes the book a great choice for book clubs. It's simple, easily detected, and realistically and objectively presented 'as it is' without a solution. Yes, it's dramatic but unforgettable. 
______________________________

Summary:

Of Mice and Men is a short read, meant to be consumed in one setting. At its heart, it's about friendship/loyalty/feeling sympathetic, but it's also a comment on freedom, poverty, and basic human rights.

"Sputnik Sweetheart" by Haruki Murakami (1999)

 

"I spread my fingers apart and stare at the palms of both hands, looking for bloodstains. There aren't any... The blood must have already...seeped inside."

What a way to end such a magnificent book! I'm utterly speechless. My mind is abuzz with many, many questions. I thought I had it, an understanding of what this was all about, but the last pages said 'no closure for you. Not today.'

On the surface, Sputnik Sweetheart is about the love triangle of K, Sumire, and Miu. K is attracted emotionally and sexually to Sumire but Sumire sees him as her friend and confidant while she's attracted both emotionally and sexually to Miu who doesn't share the same feeling towards her. Yeah. It's a mess. 

Everything went okay until Sumire met Miu and traveled with her to an island in Greece... where she disappeared without leaving a trace. But where did she go? What happened to her? Did she just leave? Was murdered? Committed suicide?

Or perhaps we just have to accept what the book tells us literally that she disappeared into another world.

Having read nearly 95% of Murakami's literary body of work, I can—to a certain degree—surely say that he's trying to build a shared universe in the majority of his novels. The connections are all over the place in The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, 1Q84, Killing Commendatore, Tsuku Tazaka and His Years of Pilgrimage, After Dark, to name but a few. It's not about the 'Murakami Bingo' of weird ear fetishes and jazz and unexplained vanishings and cats and moons, etc. These are but consequences of his world-building. It's about the rules that govern the shared universe, the philosophy, the principles that affect everyone and everything in his stories. 

One wouldn't be aware of these rules if they pick up one book and are done with Murakami. It's like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle with only one piece while the other pieces are missing. That's why one should read a great deal of Murakami to at least come to an understanding of the ways of his universe. For instance, one of these rules is this: 'Dreams are realities.' Ergo, what happens in a dream affects reality.

The reason I mentioned that specific rule is because it plays a major part in Sputnik Sweetheart. For the longest time, I've been dreading to approach this book. It took me three years to give it a try. At first, I thought it'd be something about the drama of complicated relationships. And it is. But it's more than that. It's a thorough analysis of the human condition and the universal search to alleviate the loneliness and alienation of our world... even if this pursuit compels us to traverse another reality (which is possible in Sputnik Sweetheart).

The book is dense when it comes to how it is interpreted. If you put in enough time going through the catacombs of Reddit and Quora, you'll find outrageous theories concerning rape, murder, and suicide. After the ending, the aftertaste will last you a couple of restless nights thinking about what you read and what actually happened. This, by itself, is one of the reasons why the memory of this book will always stay with you.

I believe that the central theme revolves around 'change' and how it affects the very person that makes us who we are. Every one of the characters dreads the future and what hides beneath its sleeves. K is afraid of a world without Sumire. Sumire wants to be with Miu and abandons the things she loves to do (smoking and writing for instance) to make that happen. Miu puts her piano career behind her to become a shell of her own self. 

Regardless of the reasons happening normally or abnormally, change is inevitable. It will happen whether you like it or not. The question is, how will you deal with it and finally accept it. That, I believe, is what Murakami is trying to say.

______________________________________

Summary:

Not recommended as your first book by Murakami, but for experienced readers with his style and shenanigans, it'd prove a very stimulating read. I enjoyed every page. The beginning is a drag, but once you reach the middle, reality and unreality will go hand in hand, and what you are left with is an impression of it all, a feeling.