If I have to read one more paper about how we shouldn’t take life for granted or we should give our potential soul mates a chance because life is short, I’m going to throw things across the room.

Here are my notes (in brief) from that class period:

1. Murakami writes in a very Western, Americanized style. Discuss.
2. There’s a story within a story—a fable. Why? What’s the point?
3. The end of the story implies that the girl would’ve understood the narrator if he’d told her the story. What does this say about Murakami’s belief about the power of story in everyday lives?

Nowhere during class did I mention “true love” or “fate” or anything about these cliches being the point. I guess my class wrote “original” papers—as in, we didn’t discuss this in class. Why why why? I know my class is young and idealistic, but I’d prefer it if every single paper on Murakami’s story wasn’t the same.

New rule: No class of mine is EVER again allowed to write on Murakami’s “On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning.”