Looking For: The Wind Has Risen (Kaze Tachinu) - Hori Tatsuo

        Hello! It's been a while. Here I am again, writing to you. So much has happened in my life these past few months; so many novels have gone through my hands, yet I only had that urgent feeling of wanting to write with this book. 

        Admittedly, I actually have not read this particular book, hence, the title "Looking For". Yes, I am making another section in this library of mine. This time, I am planning to write about the works that catches my curiosity and interest - ones that challenged me to book hunt them. 

The Wind Has Risen 

(風立ちぬ – Kaze Tachinu)

 a Japanese novel by Hori Tatsuo

        I think, like most others, I have had the pleasure of knowing this novel through the Studio Ghibli animation that based loosely on it. I turned to the film when I was feeling empty, I resurfaced feeling giddy. Finally! A new conquest! 

        "I must read the novel!" I was feverish with this obsessive thought. Unfortunately, even with my skills in book hunting, I couldn't, for the life of pikachu, find an English translation of said book. So, desperately, I opted for the only Japanese page that I found with it. With this I am planning (how many times have I used this word in this post now?) to beautify a google translate of it. I actually do not even know if the page had the entire novel but I'll make do with what I have. Soon after finishing that task, I'll post it here for all curious cats like me to read! Sharing is caring, after all!

        I read a blog that said the author's own health experience played a great part in making this novel. Apparently, Hori Tatsuo suffered lung ailments for most of his life. This is what draw me to read. I am already in love with Hayao Miyazaki's loose adaptation - usually I would stop there to preserve that feeling. But I just can't turn away from a promise of accurate narration of pain, of angst, of staring death in the eyes. Even more, the narrator is not the ill but his beloved. So, Hori basically wrote a dying character based on himself as if he saw himself dying, too. What would it be like to look in the mirror to see yourself on the verge of passing, and write about it as if you were not the one living that hell? I am quite intrigued.

        So I bid you adieu with the promise of a tasty souvenir for when I come back!