Clear Skies in Changchun: a monumental work of lonely literature, China's Norwegian Wood!
"People, life, are fundamentally lonely!"
Loneliness and love are eternal human themes, and they can be explained in ten thousand different ways. Clear Skies in Changchun may be one of them.
The protagonist's youth and an unforgettable romance are the literary vehicles of this novel. Neither can free people from loneliness, but they can purify the soul!
The city is the medium of this novel. A city leaves a deep impression because one or more people have lived there, or once lived there. That is why the narrator's memories become so vivid. The reason is that time has given humanity boundless imagination, and from there the story unfolds.
If readers detect a hint of Murakami's style or the taste of watered-down whiskey, that is hardly surprising! For one thing, there are a few similarities in our ways of thinking. For another, Goethe once said, "What is called true wisdom has already been thought a thousand times over!" But what matters more to me is the second half of the quote: "To make these thoughts truly our own, we must think them over again and again ourselves, until they take root in our personal experience."
I have always believed that, when it comes to language, humanity will forever be a student! And if you want to become an architect of language, then build a palace that can purify the human soul!
Theme: "In this restless age, the more clearheaded we remain, the lonelier we feel."
We're both from Changchun, thumbs up!