Written by the famous Japanese author Haruki Murakami, Tokyo Blues is a novel that portrays the complex human emotions, impregnated with nostalgia with hints of melancholy, where the author, through his protagonist Toru Watanabe, explores themes such as love, sex and death, as well as the author presents complex emotions through his characters, characteristic of human beings such as loneliness and the pain of loss.
Set in Tokyo in the 1960s, it addresses controversial issues for the conservative society of the time, such as sexuality and gender expectations, challenging the customs and social norms latent in Japan, which at the time was undergoing social and political change. It tells the story of Toru Watanabe, a young university student who finds himself at a difficult time in his life after the death of his only best friend, Kizuki. Toru is attracted to Kizuki's girlfriend, Naoko, whom he meets a year after the loss of Kizuki, Naoko who is dealing with the death of her partner in a very personal way and retreats to a clinic to treat her mental health.
It is a novel that invites the reader to reflect on life and on their personal relationships where each individual feels identified with at least a fragment of the story, the poetic literary style of the author makes it a light and pleasant book to read.
Contrary to what most of the users who have read this book think, I personally didn't like the ending, that's why I don't give it 5 stars. However, I highly recommend this book, it is among the recommended reading lists and on best seller lists. Anyone who wants to boast of a reading culture must have read this book.
This time my review will be more focused on the characters I feel this is the right way to break down the book and possibly contain some spoilers so read at your own discretion.
I will start by describing from my favorite characters to the most hated ones
Midori Kobayashi: She represents to me the openness of life. She knows that life can be hard as well as beautiful at the same time, she doesn't hold on to sour or sweet memories of the past and lives intensely in the present. She has a vibrant, cheerful and genuine personality is quite direct with what she wants and likes.
One characteristic of this character that I really like is her independence due to her mother passing away from cancer and her father running a store, she had to take charge of her life from a very young age, she never let it affect who she is. Although at times it was hard for her and this exhausted her, she moved on with her life always being as she described herself in the book, "I'm a great catch, I'm independent, hardworking, I cook, I go to college, I'm a flesh and blood girl."
There was nothing about this character that was not to my liking; To me Midori Kobayashi is a complete winner, she is a person who falls down dusts herself off and gets back in the race, to me she represents everything I would want to be, a carefree, independent, loving, unafraid of what people will say, helpful, strong, cheerful and free person.
Her relevance in the protagonist's life is essential, since she symbolizes the hope of being able to continue with life after a loss. She is presented at the beginning as a friend of the protagonist, but as the story progresses her presence represents the renewal of love and new opportunities.
The reason I didn't like the ending of this book is because I felt it was very unfair to Midori. I feel that she deserved much more (I will explain in detail later why for me the ending was not the most appropriate).
Nagasawa: For me Nagasawa represents ambition. What I like about this character is that she doesn't make excuses, if she wants something she strives and gets it. He is a persevering and intelligent character, one of my favorite phrases of both the book and the character is: "Don't feel sorry for yourself that's what mediocre people do" when I read this in my brain there was a shock, I immediately identified with this phrase. Throughout my life I have met many mediocre people whose only separation between themselves and success are excuses. I have always been of the opinion that no matter the situation you have to keep going, try twice as hard as others and the results will come with time.
On the other hand, Nagasawa's character is far from perfect. As much as he is an intelligent boy, he is selfish and apathetic. He is not the least bit interested in human relationships as he considers others around him intellectually inferior and does not mind using others in order to zacate his personal desires.
From this character I understood that, even if he was at the peak of success and highly respected by all, we cannot live a life without love or social contact, nor can we expect others to be like us, for me in the world there must be a little bit of everything, the lazy, the literate, the kind, the selfish, the generous, the miserable, this gives contrast and texture to life. If we were all ambitious and intelligent like Nagasawa life would be very flat and gray.
Although Nagasawa is not considered a main character in the story, his presence in Toru Watanabe's life is essential to the development of the story. Nagasawa considered Watanabe his friend as he saw in him a similar person, although the protagonist denied this, deep down he knew they were very much alike. Nagasawa comes into Toru's life to plant questions such as the nature of human relationships and loyalty.
Finally I found very despicable his behavior with his girlfriend Hatsumi, who loved him unconditionally despite his numerous affairs with women and his constant slights this after a few years he abandons her and the same ends up committing suicide.
Reiko: For me Reiko is a woman who represents wisdom and calmness. Reiko's patience to face her burdens and her pauses to be able to find the right words helps the protagonists to better understand the why of their actions and behaviors. What makes this character this in this position of my favorite characters are her sentences full of reason:
"Healing doesn't always mean forgetting, but learning to live with the pain and finding the strength to move on."
"There is no one right way to live life. Each of us has our own story and our own scars."
"And we shouldn't live in such a rigid way, measuring length with a ruler and angles with a protractor as if life were a bank deposit - don't you think?"
Reading Reiko felt like talking to an adult who has lived and knows too much. Reiko's flaws made her a human character and not just an annoying tutor. In the book they narrate her struggle with her sexuality and how she has been coping with it. She is a great character for which the author expresses comfort and understanding.
Reiko is an important character for the development of the relationship between Watanabe and Naoko, she guided Watanabe during his visit to the sanatorium where Naoko was, advising and reassuring him about Naoko's fragile state. She then became an emotional support in Toru and Naoko's relationship, helping them feel more understanding in the face of loneliness and confusion.
Although Reiko is a great character, I feel that by the end of the book everything that was good about this character was distorted. The author describes us a Toru who is very beaten and affected by the loss of Naoko, who after a month of living on the streets between alcohol and destitution, arrives home to receive a visit from Reiko. After a trip around Tokyo, they drink and play songs as a kind of funeral for Naoko. Between the alcohol and previous sexual tension they had in earlier chapters of the book, they end up having sex. In my mind it didn't make any sense, I didn't feel it was the right ending for the character, especially because of his close relationship with Naoko and his trauma with sexual relations. Simply for me this was something that doesn't take into account Reiko's entire narrative.
Toru Watanabe: yes, it's a bit strange that the main character is not the favorite character and I'll give you my reasons:
The book introduces us to two Torus: a 37 year old who is on a plane and hears a Beatles song that leads to him being shipwrecked in his younger days. I clearly can't dislike this one because he only appears on a few occasions.
However, I don't hate young Toru, but I don't love him either. He is a complex character unlike the other characters. I can't find a word to frame or define him. He is a thoughtful and understanding person, but at the same time in very withdrawn due to his fear of being hurt. He is a person who has a peculiar relationship with death since at a very young age he saw his only best friend leave by suicide, which leads him to question what life really means.
My annoyance with this character is that many times I had the feeling that he lived in automatic, he did things as if he had something to occupy his time more, he was never passionate about anything, he was never a character who had something he loved to do, except reading, however, he gave the feeling that he also did this in automatic. The only times I felt this character vibrated was when he was in the company of Midori.
Another thing that bothered me about this character was his attachment to Naoko knowing that Naoko didn't love him at least not like she loved her friend Kizuki. Knowing how broken and fragile Naoko was inside, I found incoherent his fear of being hurt and his clinging to Naoko, a person who was clearly going to hurt him, which led him to despise on several occasions the only person who made him feel really happy and accompanied: Midori.
In April of that year, Toru feels lonely: Naoko has not written to him, Midori is angry with him and does not speak to him, he is no longer in the residence, he realizes how horrible loneliness is and longs for the old days to return. Watanabe had to go through loneliness to understand the value he should have given Midori.
However, I think all of Toru's flaws and my annoyance towards him make him a memorable character. In the end, we are human and if we reflect on stages in our lives where we go into automatic mode and find no passions, feelings of contempt for the time we wasted feeling sorry for ourselves are born upon us.
Finally, I did not like the ending, he decides to have sex with the most intimate person between him and his platonic love Naoko, while ignoring Midori.
Naoko: for me Naoko represents fragility, melancholy. It is a character that more than dislike generates in me a feeling of compassion. From a very young age she has been surrounded by death, the suicide of two important people in her life (her sister and her only boyfriend) mark her forever. This forces her to carry an inner struggle between overcoming a loss and due to her great sensitivity, it is difficult for her to relate to the people around her and to deal with her emotions.
My problem with this character stems more from a personal opinion: I have a problem with sensitive people. They frustrate me, they make me feel powerless. That's what this character generated in me: helplessness. I know we don't all face losses and difficulties in the same way, but in my personal opinion it's not worth giving death the pleasure. If you have one life live it, seize it and enjoy it. Don't stay in a whirlpool of emotions spinning around pointlessly, live your pain, move through it and move on.
Naoko did the opposite and chose the easy way out. As Reiko said in the book: Naoko chose death.
Lastly I didn't like her selfishness at all. Naoko knew it was not right and yet she approached Toru since they were united by Kizuki's death, taking things to a higher sentimental level, knowing that she would never love Toru as she loved Kizuki, both Toru and Naoko were wrong to get involved sentimentally and this left a balance of suffering in both and a growth for the protagonist.
Naoko found sexual relations difficult from a very young age. On her 20th birthday she indirectly made Watanabe stay at her house and took her virginity. Later in the book she explains this as a "molestation" which made no sense to me. Naoko's attitude towards Watanabe was inconsistent constantly: While seducing and sexually enticing him, she also told him that they couldn't do anything and couldn't have a relationship. She refused to write to him, entered and disappeared from Watanabe's life at will while using him for self-esteem and validation.
Naoko reflects the emocinally unavailable people whose psychological problems cause any kind of romantic relationship to fail. It seems to me to be a general learning that, although reflected in all the main characters, each shows how to carry it. The best, obviously, is Midori. And the worst case is undoubtedly Naoko.
The ending of this book for me was unfair and to the punches. I feel like there was no need for Reiko and Watanabe to have relations, even though from the moment I read the chapter I saw it coming, it didn't seem consistent for this to happen. For a large part of the book Midori expressed her feelings to Watanabe and Watanabe because of his attachment to Naoko rejected her several times until he realized he had to lose her to value her properly. After Naoko's death, Toru leaves Tokyo for a month without explanation, leaving the only person who really loves him worried. After his night of passion with Reiko and accompanying her to the train station, he runs to the phone to call Midori and tell her that he wants to be with her, to me this is not an act of love.
I hope you liked this review that I made under my personal opinion.
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