It’s chapter 8 and I see the appeal of Haruki Murakami. Beyond plot, it’s the way he writes characters. They feel raw, a fictional rendering of grief and despair.

Watanabe, who I refer to as Watanuki, has been invited to a celebratory dinner with his friend Nagasawa and his girlfriend Hatsumi. The conversation moves between love and understanding. Murakami depicts his characters through dialogue and their thoughts without making it obvious. Nagasawa is a narcissist without him or any other character saying so. This builds depth without being forceful, especially when Nagasawa talks about his relationship with Hatsumi or lays out his system at dinner.

Nagasawa gives Hatsumi a choice: either accept that she’s ignorant or accept that he’s cruel. At first it looks like he’s provoking her, creating it happens, setting the terms so she can’t win. conflict. He’s not. He’s ending any conflict before it happens, setting the terms so she can’t win.

Murakami doesn’t give Nagasawa a monologue to explain his narcissism. Instead, he gives him a case, a situation to present it. Murakami painfully creates an uncomfortable scene that reveals a distorted glimpse of what Watanuki’s and Naoko’s relationship could become.

Watanuki would like to think this is all directed at Hatsumi, but it’s not true. Murakami has cleverly orchestrated the dinner around him. The conversation is centered on him even when he isn’t speaking.

Nagasawa’s words are inclusive to both him and Watanuki, using “we” when he explains his ideals. Watanuki is not simply an audience to Nagasawa’s ways; he’s evidence. This serves as a turning point for Watanuki to recognize the similarities he’s blindly ignored and see who Nagasawa truly is, forcing a point of change.

The System

So how does Hatsumi respond? Given the choices, she decides to accept that he is cruel.

The tone takes a huge leap from subtle to direct. For me, it felt like a pinnacle point for Hatsumi, no longer blindly ignoring Nagasawa’s lifestyle and him. It begins to take form into a discussion of why.

That change pushes the conversation forward, allowing Murakami to deepen Nagasawa’s views that revolve around a self-absorbed philosophy, but also continue to reinforce the similarity between him and Watanuki.

Nagasawa isn’t justifying his actions, he’s explaining them. He knows they can hurt Hatsumi, but he doesn’t see that as his problem. You see this ideology again when Watanuki asks what will happen to her once Nagasawa leaves to study abroad. Nagasawa’s answer is simple: “That’s her problem.” Nagasawa extends his explanation to Watanuki as an example, not just to Hatsumi, but to Watanuki as a nod to knowing him better than he does.

Now for my favorite line: Nagasawa casts himself as Person A and Watanuki as Person B. The logic he’s describing suggests that understanding is one-sided and timed. We can’t choose who understands us.

Prior to this, Nagasawa tells Hatsumi that “Where Watanabe and I are alike is, we don’t give a shit if nobody understands us,” telling us a narrative that he’s superior and doesn’t need others. Although Watanuki retaliates, he’s captured in a mirroring between him and Nagasawa, with Nagasawa telling him that he is understood by him whether he wanted it or not.