Murakami / Franco

I liked reading Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Murakami that I read Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman as well. Now, after reading a couple of the Palo Alto stories I have come to the conclusion that although Murakami is a far superior writer, both collections of stories have certain qualities that give them a certain melancholy, reflective mood. I attribute most of this feeling to the 1st person narration as well as the "matter of fact" colloquial tone. Very rarely does Murakami use adjectives or flowery language, and in the same vein James Franco doesn't embellish any of his writing. 

I think that where the two collections differ is in how they give a sense of wonder to the reader — a sense of the unknown. Murakami does this through a bit of "magical realism" most evident in his stories Birthday Girl and Dabchick and Hunting Knife. The writing is very plain but the subject matter is not quite normal — maybe even surreal. This contrast between clear writing and a subject that is less in focus tripped me up and really got me thinking about Murakami's work.

Fraco on the other hand is the opposite. The subject matter is so clear and blunt that it goes above and beyond and creates an contrasting effect. Where the rules of Murakami's world are not always clear, the rules in Franco's world are thrown in your face consistently, because they are the rules we abide by in real life.  For example, the first few lines in "Emily",

"He was so cute. Younger, but I didn’t care. He was a change from the assholes in my grade like Adam and Roberto who just wanted to fuck and do it in the ass. Or come on my face like a porn, and tell their friends about it. And with them I was always the last call."

This isn't a story about swimming or a girl who works at a restaurant, this is just brutally high school. The overly realistic quality of it, where the clear writing unite with a very clear image is what got me thinking about Franco's work.