The Strange Library

It's obvious yet weird to think of how different my mind is from when I was a young child. The way the world felt was completely different then than it is now, and Murakami capture's the gray area of a child's mind between what's real and what's just in their head reminds me of states of mind that are completely foreign to me now. There's something incredibly cool about that to me. The Strange Library is the story of a young boy's journey of overcoming trauma he endured from a dog bite. The prose is sweet and simple yet also contains great wisdom at times. Murakami writes about how he wishes that he could have dealt with his grief, like the main character of our novel was able to. The sheep man and the girl were instrumental in helping the boy overcome his fear, and Murakami laments that he didn't have the same outlets to deal with the passing of his mother. I think knowing that context makes this book hit even harder. I liked this one.

Read primarily because: Found on a spooky display at my university library.