I recently finished one of the most amazing books I've ever read. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, is so weird it's difficult to describe. The basic plot is about an underachieving man who is left without explanation by his wife. As he tries to figure out why she left and where she is, he meets a lot of very strange people: a psycho teen, two psychics who are sisters, a rich woman who is a psychic healer and her mute son, a World War II veteran who is still trying to break the curse of war on his life. He also discovers that his evil brother-in-law, a prominent politician, is somehow involved in the disappearance of his wife. So, our protagonist does what would be obvious to any introvert like me--he seals himself down at the bottom of a dry well until he can figure out the mystery himself, alone, in the silence and pitch dark.
I guess you could call this a postmodern novel...everything that happens happens by chance, things are seen in multiple perspectives, and the world of the "unseen" and the world of the "seen" are given equal weight. Or maybe it's magic realism, but in a different, more realistic, contemporary way than the Latin American magic realists. But to me this novel is even more connected with the shamanistic journey and the courage one must muster to face the unknown and utterly terrifying in order to rescue yourself and your loved ones. This is one of the oldest stories known to humans, and I think it's a challenge we all must face one way or another if we want to be whole and mature people. What can provoke us to face up to our own darkness? Something has to, for it is only by going through it that we can find the light.
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