In South of the Border, West of the Sun, Haruki Murakami presents us with a man caught yearning for the imagined greener grasses of his unchosen life.
Hajime is a successful, middle-aged nightclub owner with a happy life, good family, and stable financial status. But when a childhood sweetheart mysteriously reenters his life, Hajime hits crisis mode. Shimamoto and Hajime were misfits in their childhoods, drawn together by shared insecurities, but grew apart as most young lovers ultimately do.
Shimamoto has become an enigma in her adulthood; secretive and melancholy, she does little to discourage Hajime's renewed feelings and protectiveness of her. That said, she also does little to encourage it, disappearing for weeks at a time, then appearing unannounced at one of Hajime's nightclubs.
Hajime is caught between the stable and happy life he has and the intense dreaw he feels for Shimamoto, despite the emotional toture her actions put him through. In detailing Hajime's emotional turmoil, Murakami explores how the ghosts of our pasts can haunt even the most content life.
