Play-By-Play Reactions: A Review of Haruki Murakami's "The Strange Library"

An unnamed, unaged, undescribed boy character goes to a library in his new shoes to return his books. He has to be home by 6:00 or else his mother will worry; not long ago he was attacked by a Big Black Dog and ever since then he has never been the same and his mother has always expected him to get home in a timely fashion. The librarian at the checkout counter is a stranger to him.  Checking in the returned items, she asks if there is anything else. The boy says yes, he’d like some books.

Me: Really?  Well from now on, unnamed boy of indeterminate age, I shall refer to you in my blog as Captain Obvious.

Source: http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1419549475l/23128304.jpg

The librarian points him in the direction of the basement, where Captain Obvious comes across yet another stranger, an Old Man with glasses and an overactive sense of outrage. Captain Obvious, who is not a very smart cookie, allows himself to be bullied and cajoled by the Old Man, first to decide what kind of book he wants—

Me: “Tax Regulations in the Ottoman Empire”?! I wouldn’t read books on current tax regulations, much less a long-gone empire!

--and then that he will stay and read the books at the library instead of checking them out, even though he knows he has to get home to his mother any time.

Then Captain Not-So-Smart-Cookie Obvious proceeds to follow the Angry Old Man alone into a laberinthine basement dungeon . 

Me: This is not a book for children.  It teaches them to follow strangers.

And yes, yes I did just say “dungeon.” Because that’s where the Old Man leads him. They come across another man, a little guy dressed in a sheepskin. Old Man beats Sheep Guy, Captain Obvious is afraid of being beaten too, so agrees of his own volition to step into a jail cell and let the Old Man lock him up.

Me: ARE YOU SERIOUS? 

I was well on my way to not liking Captain Obvious much at all. He was not only not a smart cookie, he was also a doormat. For all I knew, this Sheep Guy was in on this whole locking-up-library-patrons scheme and the beating was staged. Unfortunately this story isn’t that sensible. Because then the Old Man gives Captain Obvious his books on Tax Codes of the Ottoman Empire and says he must memorize them in a month in order to earn his freedom. 

Captain Obvious: Sounds fair.

Me: AAAAAUGH!

Sheep Guy: Actually that is a lie. When you have memorized the books your brain will be filled with tasty knowledge, and the Old Man will chop off the top of your head and eat all that knowledge with a sherbet spoon.

Me: EW! This book is not for kids because of graphic violence.

Captain Obvious: Well there’s nothing else for me to do so I might as well do exactly what the villain wants and read this book.

To Captain Obvious’s obvious surprise he finds the books highly entertaining and easy to retain. This is not good. Also he keeps getting brought donuts by the Sheep Guy and other things by this pretty girl who keeps encouraging him. 

At this point Captain Obvious starts missing his mom and his Heretofore Unmentioned Pet Starling.  It was also at this point that I almost gave up on this book literally, and kinda did give up on the book mentally. The Pretty Girl helps Captain Obvious escape along with the Sheep Guy, but she stays behind. Captain Obvious and the Sheep Guy wander frantically through the labyrinth. When they finally find their way out, the Old Man is waiting with the Big Black Dog. But Pet Starling jumps out of nowhere and saves them, but dies in the valiant effort. 

Captain Obvious gets home and his mom doesn’t seem like she was all that worried. His Pet Starling is gone. 

Me: Wait, was Pretty Girl the Starling? And is she also somehow the Moon? I don’t know. And I kinda don’t care.

Captain Obvious had to leave his new shoes behind for some reason. He is too scared to go back. He also wants to warn people about the evil librarian conspiracy of old men in library basements plotting to suck out the brains of unsuspecting readers.

Me: This book is terrible for all people ever because it teaches that libraries are a place to fear and that librarians are evil.

Fortunately he is too scared to go to the authorities with this terrible accusation. 

In a small font on the last page Captain Obvious says his mom died. 

Forget The Strange Library. This was a Strange Book. It’s a slim, welcoming volume with splashy colored illustrations—which are really vintage images that aren’t super illustrative, more like “representative images” that don’t add anything to the story.  The cover has flaps that envelope the text block in an invitingly unique way. The way the author words things is imaginative, simplistic, and evocative of someone whispering this story in a hushed library. I appreciate these things. I enjoy trying new (to me) authors and styles and experimental narratives and formatting. I would try another of Murakami’s books in the future. 

But I still didn’t like this book.