Printer-Girl..

Whilst in Japan I met a rather unusual girl: She was an American English professer, late 20's and was in Japan on a project to study the Japanese author "Haruku Murakami". Oh, and she was carrying a A4 computer printer around with her. See, I didn't label her as unusual for nothing.

I'd read one of "Haruku Murakami's" books in the past and so was able to strike up a meaningful conversation (admitidly this didn't last long and the subject soon turned to something useless..). But anyway! During this conversation she highly highly reccommended a book. I made a mental note of the title, and decided I'd check it out when I got back. However, I soon lost my mental note and so had no idea on which book to get..and actually had no intention of getting that book even if I could recall it's name.

..skip forward a week, and jump 200 miles south..

So, I'm enjoying my time in this new city, just hanging out and doing nothing in particular when I spot her - it's printer girl! I immediatly shout her over and start chatting about how good this place is and how strange it was to bump into her - she agrees fully and soon diverts to her beloved conversational theme of books. During which, she mentions the book "Kafka on the Shore" (again), and (re-)iterates how I should read it when I get back to the UK. I make another reminder note, this time with a pen in my notebook, fully intending to check it out when I get back.

Anyway, big up the relavance! I was bored shitless sometime last week so went up to the library and managed to get a copy of this book. I finished reading it today and was pretty impressed. It follows the path of 2 main characters, and is structured in alternating chapters: one's a 15 year old runaway, intent on finding his mother, and the other's a 60-odd year old guy who can talk to cats. The two characters are linked in numerous ways and their paths intertwine heavily, yet they never meet. The overall theme of the book seems to be about the importance, no, necessity of memories..I think. Read and and see what you reckon. Though it's really quite bizarre and is extremely non-linear..minus the intentional linear parts, of course ;)

There's a phrase in the book: "Even chance meetings are a result of karma", which is quite an ironic statement in regards to how I heard about the book (both times). Though I must ask, what the hell did I do in a past life to 'earn' this meeting?! must've been something bloody cool, like building stone-henge or something. Yeah, that must be it.

check it out if you're ever bored - I'm just sorry that you had to hear about it from some boring guy on the internet and not the lovely yet eccentric printer girl in the heart of Japan.