South of the Border, West of the Sun: A Novel (Vintage International)

by Haruki Murakami

We’d always go to some quiet place and talk. I could tell her anything, up front, no holds barred. I could feel the weight of all I had lost those past ten years, all those years down the drain, bearing down on me. Before it was too late, I had to get some of it back. Holding Yukiko, I felt a nostalgic, long-gone thrill racing through me. When we said goodbye, I was lost once again. Loneliness pained me, silence had me exasperated. A week before my thirtieth birthday, after we’d been dating for three months, I proposed to her. Her father was the president of a medium-size construction company, and a real character. He’d hardly been to school, yet was a go-getter—a bit too aggressive for my tastes. Still, I was impressed by his unique outlook on life. I’d never met anybody like him.