In South of the Border, West of the Sun , the simple arc of a man's life--with its attendant rhythms of success and disappointment--becomes the exquisite literary terrain of Haruki Murakami's most haunting work. Born in 1951 in an affluent Tokyo suburb, Hajime-- beginning in Japanese--has arrived at middle age wanting for almost nothing. The postwar years have brought him a fine marriage, two daughters, and an enviable career as the proprietor of two jazz clubs. Yet a nagging sense of inauthenticity about his success threatens Hajime's happiness. And a boyhood memory of a wise, lonely girl named Shimamoto clouds his heart. When Shimamoto shows up one rainy night, now a breathtaking beauty with a secret from which she is unable to escape, the fault lines of doubt in Hajime's quotidian existence begin to give way. And the details of stolen moments past and present--a Nat King Cole melody, a face pressed against a window, a handful of ashes drifting downriver to the sea--threaten to undo him completely. Rich, mysterious, quietly dazzling, South of the Border, West of the Sun is Haruki Murakami's wisest and most compelling fiction.

37岁的男主人公，在东京市区拥有两家兴旺的酒吧，还有娇美的妻子，可爱的女儿，他是一位真正的成功人士。但是，他的内心还是感到饥饿干渴，事业和家庭都填补不了，而让他那缺憾的部分充盈起来的，是他小学时的女友岛本。岛本不愿吐露自己的经历、身份、只希望他就这样接受眼前的自己，只把她当成小学时那个爱古典乐的女孩。然而，就在他接受了这不可能接受的条件时，两人却在箱根别墅度过了销魂的一夜。翌晨，她一去杳然、再无踪迹可寻了。

37岁的男主人公，在东京市区拥有两家兴旺的酒吧，还有娇美的妻子，可爱的女儿，他是一位真正的成功人士。但是，他的内心还是感到饥饿干渴，事业和家庭都填补不了，而让他那缺憾的部分充盈起来的，是他小学时的女友岛本。岛本不愿吐露自己的经历、身份、只希望他就这样接受眼前的自己，只把她当成小学时那个爱古典乐的女孩。然而，就在他接受了这不可能接受的条件时，两人却在箱根别墅度过了销魂的一夜。翌晨，她一去杳然、再无踪迹可寻了。