On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning, By Haruki Murakami
Yuna Song
Rating: 6.5/10
This
is the first story I read after finishing James Joyce. It was easier to
understand the story itself, but it was still difficult to find the meaning
hidden in it.
The first thing that was
interesting about this story was the title. First, it is the expression '100%'.
If you were to rate people around you as a percentage, could you? At least I
would be very awkward expressing my relationship in numbers. In addition, the
man in the story refers to an unknown girl as a "100%" perfect girl.
It is very unusual to call somebody "100%" who even never shared a
conversation. Second, the expression 'seeing'. We often use the word
"meet" or "encounter" when we meet people, especially if
the other person was the one of "100%" to me, not "see". As
such, this story contained various peculiarities.
I also thought that the man meeting a 100% perfect girl might have been not a 'miracle', but rather a 'fantasy'. Not only has the girl's name never been mentioned, but the man seems to have never actually approached the girl. Nevertheless, referring to her as a 100% girl may have been just imagination from his deep loneliness. (200 words)
Interesting observations.
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