It is pleasurable to depart from realistic novels and nonfiction, from time to time, and read something with magical, fantastical, metaphorical elements. It is a struggle, to think carefully about the meaning of these elements, trying to find what the author is saying about our lives, who we are, the choices we make, and what comes after this life ends. If you are open to that mental struggle, this is a good book for you.

With broad brushes, here is the story: we meet a young man, sixteen, when he meets the love of his life, a girl one year younger. As their love and relationship grows deeper, she reveals that this is her shadow self, while her real self lives in a city behind high walls, a place where time doesn’t exist, and that he could join her there, as there is a role for him to take. Her real self won’t know him, however. One day, the girl vanishes from his life, and he continues to live half-heartedly, heart broken. He goes through the motions, getting a university degree, working for a book distribution company, and reaches his forties when at last, he finds a way to join her in the city of high walls.

I am leaving out much detail here, for you to explore yourself. His shadow and real selves become separate, as they must in the city. His shadow goes back to the real world, where he leaves his company job for a job as head librarian in a small town public library, located in a valley surrounded by large mountains. There he meets a charming, eccentric man who created the library, who is actually a ghost. He has a growing relationship with the coffee store owner, a woman seeking a fresh start in life after a divorce. He also meets a teenage boy on the spectrum, whose parents allow him to read all day in the library, rather than attend high school.

Murakami leaves the story very open for the reader’s interpretation. The issue of each person’s duality, our real and shadow selves, is of interest. The similarities and differences between the small town surrounded by mountains, cut off from the busy city, and the city with high walls, is also intriguing. The way life is lived and felt within the city of high walls, where time is meaningless, no one appears to age, and life has a flat, affectless quality. Think about the way people interact in the real world and in the city with high walls. Think about how the man’s real self and shadow self are similar and different. Think also about dreams and conscious thought, as Murakami plays with these concepts as well.

He is throwing open these ideas, asking questions using these constructs and metaphors. It is up to the reader to ponder and wonder about what he is suggesting. This type of novel is not everyone’s favorite experience. I think it is helpful to read outside of your comfort zone, stretch and expand your idea of what literature can do, how you can think about it. After all, it expands our way of thinking about life, as we apply these concepts to our experience. A worthwhile mental exercise.