SOUTH OF THE BORDER, WEST OF THE SUN (First American edition and first edition in English)

Haruki Murakami (Translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel)

ISBN 10: 0375402519 / ISBN 13: 9780375402517

Published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, USA, 1999

About this Item

First impression of the first American edition and first edition in English. Translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel. Stated First American Edition. ***The book was originally published in Japan by Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo in 1992 as "Kokky? no Minami, Taiy? no Nishi" ***Near fine in black cloth-covered boards with metallic-red titles to the spine. The titles are still nice and bright. Head and tail of spine slightly creased. Boards clean and unmarked. Page block edges clean. No reading lean to the binding. Spine tight. Internally also near fine, with no inscriptions. No tears or creases, and the paper is still white. Pages clean. ***In a near fine printed dustwrapper, that has not been price-clipped, retaining the original publisher's printed price of $22.00. The top and tail of the dustwrapper are just very slightly creased. No serious creases or tears. No fading. Dustwrapper bright. ***197mm x 135mm. 213 pages. ***'The novel tells the story of Hajime, starting from his childhood in a small town in Japan. Here he meets a girl, Shimamoto, who is also an only child and suffers from polio, which causes her to drag her leg as she walks. They spend most of their time together talking about their interests in life and listening to records on Shimamoto's stereo. Eventually, they join different high schools and grow apart. They are reunited again at the age of 36, Hajime now the father of two children and owner of two successful jazz bars in Aoyama, the trendy part of Tokyo. With Shimamoto never giving any detail as to her own life and appearing only at random intervals, she haunts him as a constant "What if". Despite his current situation, meeting Shimamoto again sets off a chain of events that eventually forces Hajime to choose between his wife and family or attempting to recapture the magic of the past.' (Synopsis from Wiki) ***'Following the massive complexity of "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" - Haruki Murakami's best-selling, award-winning novel - comes this deceptively simple love story, a contemporary rendering of the romance in which a boy finds and then loses a girl, only to meet her again years later. ***Bittersweet, passionate, and ultimately redemptive, "South of the Border, West of the Sun" is an intricate examination of desire, illuminating the persistent power of childhood and memory in matters of the heart.' (Quote taken from the front flap of the dustwrapper). ***First impression of the first edition in English, in its original dustwrapper. A short novel. Of interest to collectors of the work of Haruki Murakami. Uncommon in first edition, and particularly hard to find copies in the UK. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.

Seller Inventory # 7623x

Bibliographic Details

• Title: SOUTH OF THE BORDER, WEST OF THE SUN (First American edition and first edition in English)
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York, USA
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0375402519
• ISBN 13: 9780375402517
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition in English
• Printing: First Impression
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • First Editions
  • Literature in Translation

About this title

Synopsis

Following the massive complexity of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle--Haruki Murakami's best-selling, award-winning novel--comes this deceptively simple love story, a contemporary rendering of the romance in which a boy finds and then loses a girl, only to meet her again years later.

Hajime--"Beginning" in Japanese--was an atypical only child growing up in a conventional middle-class suburb. Shimamoto, herself an only child, was cool and self-possessed, precocious in the extreme. After school these childhood sweethearts would listen to records, hold hands, and talk about their future. Then, despite themselves, in the way peculiar to adolescents, they grew apart, seemingly for good.

Now, facing middle age, finally content after years of aimlessness, Hajime is a successful nightclub owner, a husband and father, when he suddenly is reunited with Shimamoto, propelled into the mysteries of her life, and confronted by dark secrets she is loath to reveal. And so, reckless with enchantment and lust, Hajime prepares to risk everything in order to consummate his first love, and to experience a life he's dreamed of but never had a chance to realize.

Bittersweet, passionate, and ultimately redemptive, South of the Border, West of the Sun is an intricate examination of desire, illuminating the persistent power of childhood and memory in matters of the heart.

About the Author

Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and lives outside Tokyo. His most recent novel, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, won the Borders Original Voices Book of the Year Award for fiction, and was named an Editor's Choice by Booklist and a Notable Book by the New York Times Book Review. Murakami's novels Dance Dance Dance, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle--as well as The Elephant Vanishes, a collection of stories--are available in Vintage paperback.