Books like Tony Takitani

I feel utterly empty after reading this. Murakami, did not do that. He simply wrote a story, an anecdote, without asking me to feel anything, or think anything. Neither did he ask me to think of the characters in any which way. That is why I feel the way I do. I relate to the emptiness, the loneliness of the characters in my very own personal way, and they become as much real for me. Surrealism, lies only in the fact that through such realistic and plain writing Murakami points to the absurdity of life, to the absurd reality, to the dysfunctional and comfortable loneliness. To the idea of obsessive behaviour which at times goes completely unnoticed, to the emptiness that hoarding of memories, and objects bring along with them. I do not think any lyrical poetry or blank verse, could be as poetic as Murakami''s plain and temperate writing. There is in it complete darkness, comfort and emptiness. As dark as the deepest well he wants you to go to, and as empty too. I cannot believe that someone could write such a simple story and still mean hundreds of things out of it. Words fall short. Tony Takitani is one of the finest short stories. Highly recommended.