Murakami's work has always had a certain type of power over me, yet I struggle to understand why. He dances between reality and surreality at ease. His writing style is mundane, yet his awareness is so sharp. It's like seeing things normally but with extremely good lenses that give you beyond perfect vision. His work teaches me to see the beauty and depth within the ordinary. He relies on patterns and parallels yet hints of absurdity to give his works the mundane yet surreal charm they possess. The Year of Spaghetti and A Wild Sheep Chase often have repetitive actions that continuously lead the reader's mind. A man's absurd obsession with making spaghetti for a year and a man's continuous obsession of his girlfriend's ears make habits and emotions such as cooking and lust absurd. While his literature is not as absurd as Kurt Vonnegut, it is not strict and ordinary.
Out of all the works we have read, A Year of Spaghetti, has been one of my favorite short stories. When I read this story, I noticed it referenced themes of loyalty and right and wrong at many times. The main character was loyal to the act of making spaghetti for a year. He was also loyal to his friend by not telling his girlfriend where he was. I feel it almost raised a moral dilemma, because what if his friend was doing something wrong or unjust and it would have been right to tell his friend his girlfriend, but it was also right to protect his friend. This raised a question of morality in terms of how one justifies one good over another.
I've always loved his ability to touch on topics related to human emotions and desires with such simplicity. I’m excited to keep reading and dissecting his work throughout the duration of this class period
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