Like Tsukuru Tazaki, the unnamed narrator behaves in ways that are conventionally correct. “The Strange Library” falls into the latter category, though like “Colorless Tazuru Taziki” it has a questing central character aided by a beautiful and inspiring woman. Some, like his recently published “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage,” are realistic novels other stories are more mysterious, sometimes nightmarish and swirling with fantasy. Indeed its Japanese author, Haruki Murakami, has said that to write “you have to go down to the basement of the mind.” What he typically comes up with are narratives that are journeys of self-discovery, usually featuring young men and often an alluring and knowledgeable female. They also will note that stories that take place in a basement are likely plumbing psychological depths. Readers will quickly recognize the elements of one of the grimmer of Grimms’ fairy tales.
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