Book blog #8

'Even chance meetings' . . . how does the rest of the go?"

" 'Are the result of Karma.' "

"Right, right," she says. "But what does it mean?"

"That things in life are fated by our previous lives. That even in the smallest events there's no such thing as coincidence(33)."

I had to back track a little, to try and figure things out. After flipping onto this page, there was a bit of confusion. This story seems to be all

about fate; finding fate, following fate, hiding from fate. Except this passage sits on the opposite end, Karma? I believe Karma to be personal

acts that affect the world around you. It's peculiar that Murakami would add Karma and fate into the same story, with the same character. I can

decide if I should think of this book in terms of fate, or in terms of karma. Looking at this book with a fate stand point, the characters have no
control over what is happening and they just have to rough it out until the end. In terms of Karma, the things that will happen to the characters
are determined by the action they do throughout the story. I'm trying to see how Karma and fate fit together as the book progresses; "that
things in life are fated by our previous lives." Maybe the way the characters spirits live will predicts how the physical body exist. It's very strange
how this will all fit into a story about a boy who ran away from home and is now living in a library, and the other character; an old man who used
be able to talk to cats and is now traveling on pure whim without any direction.