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PyroWillGOLD Member
HoP's Barman. Trapped aged 6 months
4,437 posts
Location: Staines, United Kingdom


Posted:
A friend gave me this link to a short story The 100% Perfect Girl, by Haruki Murakami .



I wasnt sure if I should have put this in Social Chat or Discussion, bu it thought maybe some people would have some serious opinion on this that I thought it should be shown. Its a beautiful short story, possibly sad depending on how you look at it.



I may read it again before I voice more of an opinion on it



Hope you all enjoy

hug

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind

Give a man a fish and he'll eat 4 a day hit a man with a brick and you can have all his fish and his wife

"Will's to pretty for prison" - Simian


fluffy napalm fairyCarpal \'Tunnel
3,638 posts
Location: Brum / Dorset / Fairy Land


Posted:
You read any other Murakami?



His short stories are great but not really my thing (I have issues with attention spans) though both my father and I are huge fans of his novels.



ubbrollsmile

Geologists do it in the dirt................ spank


PyroWillGOLD Member
HoP's Barman. Trapped aged 6 months
4,437 posts
Location: Staines, United Kingdom


Posted:
I havent yet, but I will, but likewise i suffer from a very short attention span wink

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind

Give a man a fish and he'll eat 4 a day hit a man with a brick and you can have all his fish and his wife

"Will's to pretty for prison" - Simian


fluffy napalm fairyCarpal \'Tunnel
3,638 posts
Location: Brum / Dorset / Fairy Land


Posted:
mine is the opposite - I can't get into short stories - they are over too quickly! Some of his are very strange (Hardboiled Wonderland and The End Of The World) and some are just magical (The Elephant Vanishes) and all are intricately laced with subtle surrealism and perfectly percieved reality.

ubblove

enjoy.

And thanks for that visual link - I haven't seen it before smile

Geologists do it in the dirt................ spank


RyGOLD Member
Gromit's Humble Squire
4,496 posts
Location: Brisbane, Australia


Posted:
Thanks for the link Will- interesting format, but I didn't quite find the story all that special. Probably just the writing style though. I think it was too rushed, and for me it came out more like a synopsis of a story instead of an actual 'short story' the way I'd expect to appreciate one.

But mm love.. completion.. regret or l'esprit d'escalier.. universal themes with timeless appeal. But in tackling those themes I think it does get quite difficult to find something truly in a class of its own. smile

FireTomStargazer
6,650 posts

Posted:
It's perfectly right here in discussion as it's not trivial!



A sad story? Maybe - I don't know... A nice one for sure!



It's only sad, because it ends exactly at this point and not with the two getting together, engaged, married and then divorcing rolleyes



It's a sad story because it is only the potentially perfect lover... but has not every person that potential?



Whether s/he is the perfect one can only be told in retrospective, on the final courtain, shortly before doing the final breath... anything else - illusion...



What he is describing is a "carmic crossroad" and not even a very obvious one. He's describing a "matrix" - nothing more, nothing less... shrug As he finds himself NOT speaking to the "girl" - it wasn't her. As he finds himself NOT being with "the perfect girl" in the end - she just wasn't the ONE.



Let go Dude!



And as a matter of fact EVERY "get together" is extremely complex!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

unfulfilled love is never ending

the best smiles are the ones you lead to wink


Tom_ShillSILVER Member
enthusiast
213 posts
Location: Brighton, United Kingdom


Posted:
If you guys like short stories you should check out some Katherine Mansfield. I really like her stuff but it's not everyone's cup of tea. Her stories have been likened to paintings, more based on imagery than plot, and with the construction of the language being more important than the characters or plot. In one of them there's a woman on a train journey to "X", because it doesn't matter where she's going. As I say, not everyone's thing but if you're of an artsy disposition it's interesting stuff to read, but you don't get much out of it unless you really think about the imagery and all that.

Will those capable of telekinesis please raise my hand?


Ravenhillmember
47 posts
Location: Falmouth, Cornwall


Posted:
I too suffer from a very short atten...

They are guides. They are teachers. They are like Yoda, only smaller and on strings.

--Meenik on poi


jo_rhymesSILVER Member
Momma Bear
4,525 posts
Location: Telford, Shrops, United Kingdom


Posted:
i absolutely ubblove haruki murakami!! My bro got me Norwegian Wood for Christmas, I havent started yet.. my absolute favourite so far is dance dance dance....AMAZING!!!! biggrin:D::D Thanks will hug

Hoppers are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.


Mr MajestikSILVER Member
coming to a country near you
4,696 posts
Location: home of the tiney toothy bear, Australia


Posted:
....................i..............................like............................

"but have you considered there is more to life than your eyelids?"

jointly owned by Fire_Spinning_Angel and Blu_Valley


DoktorSkellSILVER Member
addict
475 posts
Location: Van Diemans Land, Australia


Posted:
Written by: jo_rhymes


i absolutely ubblove haruki murakami!! My bro got me Norwegian Wood for Christmas, I havent started yet.. my absolute favourite so far is dance dance dance....AMAZING!!!! biggrin:D::D Thanks will hug




Norwegian wood had me crying like a baby.

God damn the japanese can be deppresing when they want to be

Fair luna bright, fair luna moon
it shines at night but fades too soon
fair luna moon, fair luna bright
forever we dance
we dance under starlight


FireTomStargazer
6,650 posts

Posted:
chat, chat and clearly chat... wink

where's the electrician... ??? biggrin

the best smiles are the ones you lead to wink


LoewanBRONZE Member
and behold!
464 posts
Location: Liverpool, United Kingdom


Posted:
Written by: FireTom


It's perfectly right here in discussion as it's not trivial!

A sad story? Maybe - I don't know... A nice one for sure!

It's only sad, because it ends exactly at this point and not with the two getting together, engaged, married and then divorcing rolleyes

It's a sad story because it is only the potentially perfect lover... but has not every person that potential?

Whether s/he is the perfect one can only be told in retrospective, on the final courtain, shortly before doing the final breath... anything else - illusion...

What he is describing is a "carmic crossroad" and not even a very obvious one. He's describing a "matrix" - nothing more, nothing less... shrug As he finds himself NOT speaking to the "girl" - it wasn't her. As he finds himself NOT being with "the perfect girl" in the end - she just wasn't the ONE.

Let go Dude!

And as a matter of fact EVERY "get together" is extremely complex!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
unfulfilled love is never ending




Well basically, you should be left wondering if that story he told is actually true? Whether that they used to be together at point and shared the perfect relationship before going their seperate ways before losing their memory. The sad thing about the story is that the guy will NEVER see this girl again and he only realised their past histories together after their meeting. And even then he was still unsure whether his history with her is real or not.

Why let your body be a temple? When it can be a theme park?

Wii Console Number: 3294 0297 7824 7498


roarfireSILVER Member
comfortably numb
2,676 posts
Location: The countryside, Australia


Posted:
I really liked that story, but I think it was cut too short. There should have been a happy ending...I like happy endings smile

.All things are beautiful if we take the time to look.


FireTomStargazer
6,650 posts

Posted:
I assume the story to be true... as I said - I once me a girl - in a nightclub and there was something special.... At this time I was on the merge to go back to Thailand and further to Bali (just in October 2002...) So at first I didn't want to get involved in anything emotional.

At this time I started to read "The Alchemist" of Paolo Coelho.

I had to meet this girl twice again, before we spoke to each other and she told me her name: "Coco"...

I was astonished as I once had a very very sweet girlfriend who's name was "Coco" - she used to go to a grafic design school in munich. I (at this time) was in Tarot cards and somehow calculated my personal card... asking myself who would be the perfect partner for me.... my card is 19... the end of the cycle is 21... so I thought: "Hey it would be perfect to meet a girl with the number 2..."

I asked Coco what she was doing and she told me that she was attending (the same) grafic design school in Munich. I was starting to tremble. I asked her what she was working upon and she said that for her final examn she was illustrating "The Alchemist" of Paolo Coelho... I got very dizzy at this point.

She asked me: What's your Maya sign? And I answered: Well someone told me, but I not sure about it anymore....

There was a chart hanging on the wall of the nightclub (Natraj Temple in Munich) and she pointed at it: Do you remember what it looked like? I said: No, sorry. She asked me for my birthday, so she could do a calculation and tell me sometimes and I answered: 16. of June... She looked at me and asked the year. When I told her she was dazzled herself and told me: Well you are born exactly on the same day as me - just 10 years before.

I was already in trance and said: 10? The wheel of fortune?

As I found out very much later, we're on the same wave in Maya-Astrology... as me on number one and her on number seven...

I calculated her personal Tarot card and guess...

Yes, it was number 2...

So, dear Alien, this story is true and my personal experience...

Any more comments, or questions? wink hug smile

the best smiles are the ones you lead to wink


roarfireSILVER Member
comfortably numb
2,676 posts
Location: The countryside, Australia


Posted:
Wow! That's crazy but awesome at the same time!

.All things are beautiful if we take the time to look.


FireTomStargazer
6,650 posts

Posted:
... I thought so the same... and this experience led me back to believe in something "beyond" the material... and maybe that was the only purpose as unfortunately it didn't have a happy ending... frown ... or to say: she was not the one for me... shrug



--------------------------

In the end, all that matters is

how much we have loved

how much we have lived and

how much we have learned to let go...

the best smiles are the ones you lead to wink


Bubbles_SILVER Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,384 posts
Location: mancunian, United Kingdom


Posted:
i think i may have read the story in a slightly different way, but the part that got me which i like is the whole 'take the opportunity' metaphor. that they should have stayed together, even with some doubt (which im sure most people have).

Disclaimer:im not responsible for what i say or do whether it be before,during and after drinking alcoholic substances (owned by BMVC).
Creater of Jenisms(TM)
Virginity like bubble,one prick all gone.


KyrianDreamer
4,308 posts
Location: York, England


Posted:
Ha, thats even stranger given what I just posted....

I have to admit that its prolly the case he should let go, tho, things that are truly meant to be, happen, in weird and wonderful ways.

And oh god am I learning that strangely! (As are some of my friends).

Keep your dream alive
Dreamin is still how the strong survive

Shalom VeAhavah

New Hampshire has a point....


emmainomember
57 posts
Location: Wilts


Posted:
I love Murakami! Some of the longer books can be quite heavygoing though, they get pretty deep. I just wanted to share my experience with 'The Wind-up Bird Chronicle'...

books have made me laugh and cry before, but this was the first one to make me sick - i kid you not, i was physically sick , it wasnt pleasant! Its a fantastic book that i would love to read again, but im scared to pick it up for the second time; it was really draining to read (in a good way, i cant explain this very well!)

Anyway, there you go. Murakami = genious
And The 100% Perfect Girl was lovely smile

nearly_all_goneSILVER Member
Pooh-Bah
1,626 posts
Location: Southampton, United Kingdom


Posted:
I found it very sad, and very beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

What a wonderful miracle if only we could look through each other's eyes for an instant.
Thoreau


MokaGOLD Member
is a medium/large scary man
420 posts
Location: Victoria, Australia, Earth, Milky Way...


Posted:
None to schabby...

Contact juggling was invented by dung beetles.


newgabeSILVER Member
what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
4,030 posts
Location: Bali, Australia


Posted:
Um, scuse but

I'm afraid it didn't move me at all. The 'lost and perfect' other is such a worn out myth.



I prefer the unsentimental approach of, say, Peter Carey.

.....Can't juggle balls but I sure as hell can juggle details....


emmainomember
57 posts
Location: Wilts


Posted:
You're right that it has been done before, but Murakami's version isn't just a vacuous regurgitation of the same old same old... at the least you have to appreciate how in just a few pages he has managed to set up quite a complex backstory... and leave the reader hanger with the 'is it true' enigma.

It's not just sentimental dirge, there's much more to it than that.

Groovy_DreamSILVER Member
addict
449 posts
Location: Australia


Posted:
The same dilemma occurs when you meet someone and suspect you might have known them in a past life. For all you know, you could have been married to them.

FireTomStargazer
6,650 posts

Posted:
... or having killed them, having being daughters, sons, cousins, parents..... rolleyes

smile

the best smiles are the ones you lead to wink


NateBRONZE Member
Groovy ga watashi no namae desu!
1,530 posts
Location: Oxford, Oxfordshire, England


Posted:
ok so alot of people have replied to this

in my experience of japanese stories, there's always a very strong feeling or idea that there's just one person for them

i've seen this alot of times in graphic novels, normal novels, short stories like this one.

they must believe in the perfect person for them alot

anyone else seen alot of this in their stories??

thanks for sharing it!

I like Languages.

Educate your self in the Hazards of Fire Breathing STAY SAFE! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hug.gif" alt="" />


LazyAngelGOLD Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
2,895 posts
Location: Cambridge UK


Posted:
I just wanted to say thank you to this thread, as it persuaded me to buy 'Hardboiled Wonderland and The End Of The World' when I saw it on sale the other day, and I am muchly enjoying it!
grouphug
smile

Because ActiveAngel sounds like a feminine deodorant

Like sex, I'm much more interesting in real life than online.

'Be the change you want to see in the world around you' - Ghandi



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