Murakami - Kafka on the Shore

This was the second novel by Murakami that fell on my hands. Actually, there was nothing accidental in that I chose to read this book. After reading one of Murakami's newer novels "Sputnik Sweetheart" I was quite impressed by how Murakami was able to paint such a mysterious story line that felt very intimate and distant at the same time. I went to the library to aiming to get my hands on Murakami's latest novel to be translated to Finnish. Unfortunately, all copies of "Norwegian Wood" were taken so I decided to give "Kafka on the Shore" a try.

Kafka on the Shore cover

This book was just amazing. The two story lines intertwine in the most wonderful manner. The book is at the same time very open, but leaves some key details untold and there is this some mysterious thing leave the characters somewhat distant, but that's good. Then there are just some silly scenes in the book that make it even more charming. Was Colonel Sanders Murakami who intervenes to get the story back on  track?

Compared to "Sputnik Sweetheart" this book it's in a league of its own. If you want to read something by Murakami give this one a read.

You can listen to the Archduke trio online at the Petrucci Music Library. It is actually a very nice piece of music and very approachable. Give it a listen.

http://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Trio_in_B-flat_major,_Op.97_%28Beethoven,_Ludwig_van%29

Murakami - Sputnik Sweetheart

During the weekend I finished reading Haruki Murakami's book "Sputnik Sweetheart". In the back of Murakami was compared to the likes of Paul Auster. That is a very good comparison. Having read several books by Auster I can say that is a very good comparison. However, I feel that Murakami writes less but says more than Auster. Also, at least this book was, more mystical compared to Auster.

The story was something different. First I thought that the story was rather dull and ordinary but as I read on I became impressed by his story telling skills. Somehow he appears to be telling everything but leaves the crucial bit behind a curtain. This strange love story was very appealing. I recognised the same kind of feelings of being alone and lost as the characters in the book had. I think rarely have I read a book that raises this kind of intimate and sensitive feelings in me.

I must read another book by Murakami before I can say if I like his writing. The next one I will read will probably be "Norwegian wood" if I can get myself a copy.

Barbara Demick: Nothing to Envy - Ordinary Lives in North-Korea

Recently when I was browsing in the book store I came across with this book about North Korea. The book was written by Barbara Demick and titled "Nothing to envy - ordinary lives in North Korea". Since it was available as a paperback at reasonable price I decided to pick it up. The book was written on the basis of series of interviews of North Korean defectors that Demick made in South Korea while she was there as the correspondent of LA Times.

The book was extremely interesting to read since it was written from the view point of ordinary North Koreans. I particularly enjoyed the fact that I got a glimpse of different kinds of people with different social status. I got to know how a doctor, a teacher, a college student and ordinary mothers struggle to survive in the disintegrating economic situation.

Nothing to Envy - ordinary lives in North Korea

It is just horrifying to read how the situation got gradually worse during the 90's and again in the 2008. Reading the book you start to feel anger over the situation in North Korea. The people of North Korea suffer from constant hunger, oppression and fear. It is just inhumane and I do not understand how the country is still able to function (in large part it does not function at all). For the past twenty plus years the average North Korean citizen has been fighting for their next meal. The situation can not go on any longer. It must end. Sooner the better.

I started to think of different scenarios how the situation could be solved. Basically what I was thinking how the regime in North Korea could be changed or what will happen when and if the government will fall.

1. Collapse

If the regime would collapse uncontrollably, there probably would be no choice but to close the borders and send in food. I do not think any country would be able to absorb the presumably large masses of refugees. The next step would probably be to put in a temporary UN government that would oversee the transfer and eventual unification of Korea. It would probably take at least twenty years to get the country on it's feet.

2. "China"

The second option would be that the leaders in Korea opt for taking the same route that China has taken for the past 30 years. The biggest problem will most likely be how the foreign companies will find a way around the fact that human rights situation in NK is beyond appalling. Would you like to buy something that was produced in North Korea? This route would require many decades and in order to succeed NK regime would need to prove that the humanitarian situation is getting better and they are no longer pursuing to obtain nuclear weapons. Somehow that just seems unrealistic, at least at the moment.

I'm pretty sure that the slow collapse of NK regime is underway since so much chinese goods are already flowing in and people have (illegal) chinese cell phones that they use to call to their relatives living in China. The people are starting to know how life is outside the closed bubble of NK. I just hope that the collapse won't end up in situation where the North with it's last remaining power will launch an attack to South Korea.

Jobs.

What would you say of a guy who believes that by eating fruit he does need to use deodorant, is an admires zen meditation and practices, but explodes every now and then at work, and can not furnish his house because he is such a perfectionist that he can't find suitable furniture that meet his criteria. Do you think this kind of a guy has any chance of succeeding? Well that was how Steve Jobs was. Still he managed to create a company that has shaken up the market of consumer electronics throughout the past decade or so. The pace has been especially furious since the launch of iPhone in 2007.

If you have not noticed, Steve Jobs died on 5th of October 2011. After his cancer diagnosis in 2005 Jobs wanted a biography written. while he was still alive and in 2009 Walter Isaacson started working on the book. The book was scheduled to be released in March 2012, but the release was moved to October since it became clear that Job's health was declining.

The life story of Steve Jobs is, of course, very interesting and inspirational, but what kind of picture does the book paint of Mr. Jobs and is there something missing from the picture. In this review I try to focus on evaluating the book and not Steve Jobs's persona which is naturally a bit challenging taking into account the topic of book.

As Literature

As a piece of literature biographies rarely are remembered for their literary excellence. The text flows nicely and is very easy to read. At times it feels that Isaacson underlines too much of Jobs's character traits. One good example of this is the way Isaacson brings up how Job's father taught him to pay attention to things that where not visible while two were building a fence. This is brought up quite often when Jobs's perfectionism comes up, like in the case of the power source of original Macintosh.
It could have been a better choice to structure the book around discussions that Isaacson had with Jobs. It would have created a more intimate feel to the book. A feeling that Jobs is talking himself. Of course this is not what the book tried to achieve. Now the book goes with content and objectivity first which is a very good choice.

Apple

The book captures well the main points of Apple's history. It is especially interesting to read about the early stages of Apple and home computing. There was really something special happening in Palo Alto and Silicon Valley in the 1970s. How can such a small area become the synonym for innovations and hightech?

Opening up how the creative process worked in Apple when Jobs was still around is one of the most interesting points in the book. Well let's make one reservation, the book is not good at telling how the others teams actually worked. It just simply gives a glimpse on how the teams tried to manage with Jobs's way of leadership. The role of Jonathan Ive in the creative process and the fact that Jobs almost blocked 3rd party apps from iPhone prove that Jobs wasn't the only creative and brilliant individual at the company.

At times it feels that the book is all about marketing Apple products. Especially when you read the story on how Jobs tries to confuse Siri on the new iPhone 4S. Maybe this is inevitable.

Steve

In my mind the only way to evaluate a biography is to try and determine if the the biographer has been able to shine light on all the sides of personality of the biographee. Jobs wanted the biography to be realistic. His wife also admitted that Steve's personality, to put it politely, is complicated and wanted it all to be in the book. Clearly, work was number one for Steve Jobs and the book describes mostly his professional personality. I would have wanted to know more about the private side of Steve Jobs. We get to know that Jobs liked walking, photography and was a picky eater, which in my mind isn't that much. I would liked to know a bit more if he had any hobbies, what he did with his kids. The book tells a little about Jobs's relationship with his children. Mostly quite negative things. Of course his kids are still young and it would have been a bit unethical to make young children to evaluate their relationsship with their father.

Without ever having met Steve Jobs or having spent any time with him it is hard to say if the biography is accurate representation of his personality. In order to write a book you need good stories and usually good stories emerger from situations where there is a conflict or problem to solved. Unfortunately, Steve Jobs is portraid as a manic personality. While the book depicts the mercurial personality of Mr. Jobs, it seems to hide the everyday guy and how he was when things went smoothly.

What I kind of miss in the book is Steve's opinion on social media. Did he think it was important or driving for of technological innovation?

Conclusions

The book leaves your opinion about Steve Jobs swinging back forth. Why was this very strange guy able to create two extremely successful companies? What was his magical touch that enabled Apple to grow in to the most valuable technology company during the past ten years? Even though Steve Jobs's personality was flawed he must have had a clear vision of what he wanted. On one level I can understand Jobs. He barely 25 when he suddenly noticed that he had a fortune of 250 million dollars. It is next to impossible that this much money would not affect you at all.

Give it a read and tell me what you think.

Moomis

Since I was a child I've been a big fan of the Moomin animated series produced in Japan in the early nineties. The manga style animation was so beautiful and the stories were so well adapted to TV. Even though the stories in the animated series were quite different from the original Moomi books, the animated series has educated several generations to appreciate the Moomi way of life.

Moomi books are wonderful and exceptional pieces of literature

I felt that I wanted to know a bit more about the original stories and I also had herd that the original Moomi books are great literature and have philosophical side to them. I chose three books that I thought had the most interesting titles except for Moominpappa at Sea (Pappan och havet, 1965) which I knew to be very good novel. The two other books I read were Moominland Midwinter (Trollvinter, 1957) and Moominvalley in November (Sent i November, 1970). The second reason why I chose these two books was that I thought they might help me get ready for winter and all the darkness of autumn, or so I thought.

It is amazing how different the stories in these books are compared to the stories in the animated series of my childhood. The animated series lacks most of the gloomy atmosphere and philosophical reflection of the books. The world of the animated series is happier and more carefree. That is how it was when you were a child.

One theme that rose up in all three books was how the Groke symbolises what happens when you are forgotten, not seen by others and left without love. The Groke represents everything scary and Moomis are scared of Groke, but I can't help feeling a bit sorry for the Groke. Groke is left out of everything and has to live all alone outside of the Moominvalley. Of course, in the book Moominpappa at Sea this changes quite a bit.

It is quite funny when you notice that you are reading about your own problems and weaknesses from a children's book. Sometimes it feels that do these books even give anything to children. My mother read Moominsummer Madness to me and my sister when we were little but I can't remember how the story really progressed. All I remember is the feeling. That is probably the strongest quality of Moomi books.

Reading these books was a really great experience. My favourite book of the three was Moominvalley in November and how it portrays what keeps people from being happy and the different mentalities and life philosophies of people. If you are looking for happy-go-lucky children's stories the Moomi books might not be the thing for you.

Medvedev presidency

Time for yet another book review. This time the book I want to tell you about is about Russia and it's current president Dmitri Medvedev. The book is written by Arto Luukkanen and titled "Medvedev - Venäjän isäntä vai Putinin renki" (Medvedev - Ruler of Russia or Putin's servant? [free translation]). The book recaps the story of Medvedev's road to power and his relationship with Putin. Since the book is about very recent events the analysis in the book isn't that in-depth. The book is more of a narrative about what has happened in Russia during the past ten years. It is truly surprising to realize how many note worthy events there have been during the Medvedev presidency and how many of them I have forgotten.

I really liked the book. Reading it was a bit like reading a thriller. The book sheds light to structures of Russian society that get virtually no coverage in the media. As a good example of this is the short introduction on the Russian newspaper landscape and what kind of organisations and people can be found behind different newspapers. Various Russian think tanks are also covered and who they support. Out of the many Russian bloggers Luukkanen mentions Aleksey Navalny who has gained popularity for his campaigns against corruption and revealing government misconduct. You can find his blog here. One thing that amazes me after reading the book is the fact that we in the west do not know by name that many people from the Russian ruling elite.

The book explains very well the basic structure of Russian politics and gives you an idea about the different political tendencies.*  Particularly the rise of securocracy is extremely intriguing and at the same time extremely worrying. The big dilemma of Russian politics seems to be (and is) the need for immediate and swift modernisation versus the stability (or stagnation) of society that is needed for development.

Since the securocracy rose to power the conditions in Russia have stabilised and the standard of living rose until the financial crisis of 2008, but now the infiltration of ex-intelligence operatives to all regions of Russian society threatens to prevent all meaningful modernisation efforts. To make things more complicated the different security branches are not exactly friends are there are different factions inside the security services. The securocratic elite has in few years become more of an obstacle than enabler of modernisation. For them everything is fine as long as money flows in their pockets and no one questions their rule.

Did Medvedev rule Russia at any point? What were his goals and did he achieve any of them? In my opinion Medvedev clearly had some vision on how he wanted to modernise Russia, but the brief war with Georgia and the financial crisis postponed the start of the reforms. Also Putin and Medvedev seemed to have disagreement on the speed of reforms. In my eyes the bad guy here was Vladislav Surkov who is widely seen as the main ideologist in Kreml. He was appointed as the First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office by Putin in 2008. Surkov was the one who critised Medvedev(!) for being too ambitious with his plans for modernisation. Maybe the situation was such that there were two against one and Medvedev had to back down. Further more the book suggest that the battle for presidency started already in 2010. Medvedev supporters are/were mainly Moscow's think tanks and parts economic elite who thought that the liberalisation of political life is necessary. However Medvedev was not able to gain the support Russian regions. At the end it seems that even tough Medvedev tried there never was enough room to for him to accomplish anything of significance. 4 years is too short time in Russian politics and changes don't happen gradually, but are more like earthquakes that change everything in a heartbeat. It seems that for now Putin is back in helm and that is how it is going to be for the next 12 years.

I learned a bunch of new things reading the book and had leave out a lot of details that were worth mentioning. I believe that the book equipped me with information that enables me to look at what happens in Russia more objectively and to better understand what happens in Kreml in the future.


*Wikipedia also has an article about the topic, but I am not sure how accurate it is at the moment. Should give you some leads if you want to know more.

I can't see you

Once again a book by Paul Auster has found a way to hands. This time I read Auster's newest novel titled "Invsible". It was first published in 2009. This was the third book by Auster I've read. The other two being "Mr. Vertigo" and "Brooklyn Follies". The links guide you to the blog entries that I wrote about those books.

Auster: Invisible (Photo by the author)

Unsurprisingly the book takes place (where else but) in New York with a French connection. It tells the story of Adam Walker and what happend to him during 1967. Auster is a brilliant story teller no doubt about it. He writes in a way that makes the story flow with ease and unexpected twists and turns are placed perfectly. "Invisible" is a thriller, love story and a growth story all at the same package and it is  executed with great precision.

Let it be emphasized, I did enjoy reading this book.

Auster has found the winning formula that goes without saying. When you compare "Brooklyn follies" and "Invisible" I found some points that I find a bit of annoying, mainly because my own world view is compatible with these points and I know Auster has written these points in because he knows people like me enjoy them. This only means that he knows his audience very well. The most prevailing of these points is the intellectual East-Coast university sentiment that is so overwhelming that is hyper analytical and self-concious.

The second point that annoys me is sex and how Auster always needs to put some of it in his books. Yes, yes it is part of being human and quite large part. (The fundamental part?) Sometimes it just seems that the sex is there to get a reaction. In this book there is a sexual relationship that annoyed me. First I was disgusted. Then I tried to explain why the characters did what they did based on their tragic childhood. After that I wanted to kill myself for trying to explain the thing out. Maybe it's just my own problem. Why do I need to analyse everything?

Mr. Vertigo

Book cover: Mr. Vertigo

Time to hand in yet another book report. This time it's about Mr. Vertigo a book by Paul Auster that was first published in 1994.

This is the second book written by Auster that i've read. I did not enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed Brooklyn Follies. The story is alright, but there are too man highs and lows in the book. In one way it is understandable since it tells the life story of the main character. Somehow it might have made more sense to focus on just one story arch and develop it further.

Maybe this book is directed to those people who look back at their lives and can see all the phases of their lives, the high points and mistakes. I am not at that stage in my life.

Mr. Vertigo is not a life changing reading experience. That does not mean you should not read it. Mr. Vertigo is book that shows how talented Auster is as a storyteller. Even though the text is not A+ quality it is still better than that of most people. The basic positive and humane tone that is present in the book is Austers trademark and creates a unique atmosphere for the story. That makes taking the flight to the world of roaring 1920's and times of great depression of 1930's worthwhile.