Book Review: The Strange Library

The Strange Library
By  Haruki Murakami

My Edition:
Paperback, 96 pages
2014, Knopf
ISBN: 9780385354301

From the back of the book: A lonely boy, a mysterious girl, and a tormented sheep man plot their escape from the nightmarish library.

Let me just say right off, I didn’t understand this book. Or to clarify, I didn’t understand the ending or overall message.

This is only the second Murakami I read, the other being the intimidating 1Q84, and I can’t say I really understood that book either. He may not be for me, or I may have started out by reading the wrong books. Honestly, I bought this book because of the unique format and visuals.

The story is brief, at most it takes up half of the 96 pages. The lonely boy becomes trapped in the library because of his inability to stick up for himself, and perhaps that’s the lesson to be learned. Honestly, I finished the story scratching my head and wondering if maybe Murakami’s work is too deep for me. I’m glad I purchased this on Amazon, because the cover price is $18.00 and there’s no way I could justify that price for this book, even though it is cool to look at. I think it would be better off packaged in a short story collection, or sold at half the price. Had I paid full price, I would be very disappointed.

But check out the artwork: