Double cannonball, baby!
This was my first encounter with Haruki Murakami, and while I’m not 100% certain that I actually liked this weird little book, it definitely piqued my interest in the author.
“The tricky thing about mazes is that you don’t know if you’ve chosen the right path until the very end. If it turns out you were wrong, it’s usually too late to go back and start again. That’s the problem with mazes.”
A lonely boy (do we ever learn his name? I can’t recall it if we do) goes to the library to learn about the Ottoman Empire (specifically, how it collected taxes). This leads to his kidnapping, as the librarian forces him downstairs into a cell. He tells the boy to read and learn, for in a month, he will eat the boy’s brains and all the knowledge in them will make them delicious. There’s also a strange man dressed as a sheep, and an ethereal young girl, and together, they help the boy escape.
It’s a strange story, but beautifully done — bizarre illustrations compose about 50% of the (rather short) book. I’m not sure what audience it’s aimed at — it looks like a children’s book, but doesn’t read like one. I think it would be a little frightening for a young child but I think a teenager might appreciate it. I certainly came away feeling like I didn’t really understand what happened…but I want to know more nonetheless.
