Murakami, “On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning”

Here’s the other short reading from the semester’s first reading assignment.  It’s a story by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, who is known for writing some very unusual novels that I highly recommend.  This story was written in 1981, early in Murakami’s career, but it centers on the timeless question of love at first sight.

What I find interesting about this story is the narrator that Murakami has chosen to use.  This is a choice you’ll need to make for your story, also.  Any writer of fiction has to answer a few basic questions that can heavily affect the story she’s telling:

– Who is telling the story?  Is it a first-person narrator, a second-person narrator, or a third-person narrator?

– What does the narrator know?  Does s/he have a limited point of view, or can s/he see inside of everyone’s mind?

– How does the narrator speak to the audience?  Is her/his tone cold and detached?  Intimate and warm?  Something else?

Think about these questions of narrator as you read this unique story.  But more importantly, think about your own story – what sort of narrator will you use?

You can download the story at the link below, and don’t forget to post your reply in the space available at the bottom of the page!

Murakami – On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning

31 thoughts on “Murakami, “On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning”

  1. I think that this story is telling in second person. I think that someone is having a conversation with someone else about his life or about someone life’s that he know. I think that the narrator has a limited point of view. He just imagine what could be the answer of the person but he couldn’t be short. What about if the answer of the person is the opposite what he was thinking. So for the reason I think that the narrator has limited point of view.
    The tone of this story is sad and lamenting. The narrator at the end said “Yes, that’s it that is what I should have said to her” it sounds like he was saying why I told her that I didn’t. Might he think that he should said another thing not what he did.
    Something that I want to use of this story is telling a story inside of another story, and it is a litter confuse about who is telling the story and may I use this too in my story.

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  2. A first person is telling the story. The narrator is the one who experienced the story. His tone is cold and detached because he got sick that caused him to lose his memory. He forgot that it was him that found his 100% perfect girl years ago. And this was the second time and the time to marry and be happy, but that didn’t happen. This story really had a sad end.

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  3. In the story “On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning,” the author is the narrator and he is telling the story. And he uses the first-person narrator because he uses “I” to tell the story.
    As the narrator, he knew he met his 100% perfect girl, but he didn’t grabbed that chance that he let the girl left. He imaged what should he say to her to start their conversation, but he thought all the ways were ridiculous and she wouldn’t accept him. And he imaged that what they would do if they have a happy hour. But he lost her. Suddenly, he remembered that she was his 100% perfect girl for him and they met each other 14 years ago. They wanted to test each other one more time, but they lost each other. He knew the reason was they were too young to consider more. Because people were too young to meet their 100% perfect girls or boys for them, they didn’t trust the person were their 100 % perfect guys in their lives. Even though they trusted, they also wanted to test again and tried to find more perfect person. But they lost. Now she got another lover, even thought he wasn’t her 100% perfect person, she loved him. Most of people were same like them. They found their lover, and let lover left.
    The narrator told to us that it’s his story and not ours. He just told his story. When he told the story that his tone was very cold and detached. He didn’t have big emotion waves, and he also stood in a angle of a spectator. He only told the story and told us what happened to him. He was regretful, but he knew that he couldn’t change anything. The only way he could do is that remembered her and kept going.
    I like the story because it told me that there is a 100 % perfect person for me in the world. I trust that he will be my true lover. Perhaps in the world is only one of my 100% perfect person. I don’t know if I ever met my 100% perfect boy for me or not. I hope that I didn’t miss him by. suddenness. I don’t know how my 100% perfect boy likes like. I hope he is kind, brave, dutiful and lovely. I know if I meet him I will know he is my 100% perfect boy.
    And also I really don’t like the story. It’s too sad to read. I can’t image once the same situation happen to me, what should I do. I might be crying and painful. I even don’t know if I can suffer the huge misfortune which is lost perfect lover. But I believe, once I met him, I will tell him that he is the 100% perfect boy for me. I don’t want to miss him and spend my life to miss him.
    Finally, it’s a sad story.

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  4. The first part of the story is in first person. Then, this it is written in third person in the second section. The way the second part is written is very different from the first part where the narrator talks in the first person point of view. The language used is very formal as compared to the first part which was casual language. The narrator stars off optimistic and happy, but then he turns sad and doubtful. His tone is cool, calm and collected.

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  5. In my opinion this story is indeed a sad story.The author writes this story in first person. However, I can imagine this story be told by some storyteller, like it was some fairy tale. The story brings a tone where the author sounds intimate and warm. The narration gave this story an interesting yet unfortunate twist in the end and sadly it ends like that.

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  6. In this story, the author used the first-person narrator to tell a story. The narrator passed a 100% perfect girl on the street, and he wants to speak to the girl, but he didn’t see inside of the girl’s mind. Thus, he wanted to tell a sad story to the girl. When the narrator was speaking, I think his tone was cold and detached, otherwise he would not tell the girl a sad story. But on the other hand, i think his tone was also intimate and warm, because we could see that he really wants to meet the girl.

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  7. The author, Murakami, is using the first person narrator to describe his own story at the beginning. Meanwhile, he uses a third-person narrator to tell another story in order to support his story and thoughts. The author met a perfect girl for him on the street one day, but he hadn’t said anything to her. Then, the girl was lost in the crowd. The author felt regretted about doing nothing for his 100% perfect girl. He made up a story about a boy and a girl who the perfect half for another. They met on the street like the author did, but they tried to know each other. And, they had an amazing conversation. The boy met his dream girl, and the girl met her 100% perfect boy. Somehow, they decided to test themselves to see if they were the one. This decision made their story had come to a perfect ending. They accidentally forgot each other and married with someone who was not that perfect for themselves. And then, they met on the street again. It made everything which they forgot coming to their mind, but they already missed the right timing to get together.
    I think the tone of the story is detached. And, I believe the narrator knows and can see inside of everyone’s mind. I like the way of the author telling the story. I think if a story is telling by a third person, it may easier for the audience to understand the story. Thus, I think in my own story, I will use the third person narrator.

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  8. The writer uses a third-person narrator to describe his story. However, lots of feeling from the man describes so deeply. As a narrator, he should tell readers more detail about the protagonist’s thinking, and readers didn’t know before. In Haruki Murakamis’ novel, he as a third-person narrator, using a detached speak.

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  9. In this story, the author is using the first – person narrator. The author tell this story through his mind and feeling. The narrator knows about only his feelings that is limited point of view of his. I can’t think of a story I am going to work but I may use the first-person narrator that express the author’s point of view.

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  10. In this story, the author is using first-person narrator. His feelings are written with details and readers are able to figure out the character’s thoughts. His point of view is limited with only his perspective. I dont know what I’m going to write about however, I may use the first-person narrator.

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  11. In this story, the author is using first-person narrator. His feelings are written with details and readers are able to figure out the character’s thoughts. His point of view is limited with only his perspective. I dont know what I’m going to write about however, I may use the first-person narrator.

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  12. The title of the story “On Seeing the 100% Percent Girl One Beautiful Morning” which affirms love at first sight is very catchy. It draws readers in because it leaves us hanging and wanting to know what happens to the guy when he saw his 100% girl that beautiful morning. The term 100% usually is associated with perfection but in our reading we can see the narrator’s personality and how he sees his perfect girl “Tell you the truth, she’s not that good-looking ” “Not really.” He was not looking for perfection as the term indicates, it was something deeper that he could not explain it to his friend, it was love at first sight.
    I like Murakami’s style of writing the story when he started describing his character by the first person point of view which allows us to understand the inner thoughts of the narrator and get inside his mind. Through his ideas we can see his fears “No, she wouldn’t believe it” and his main conflict throughout the story using modal verbs “she might
    not …” , “she could say, I might be the 100% perfect girl for you, but you’re not the 100% boy for me. It could happen..” He plans to approach a girl and talk to her describing himself in the third person in a fairy tale as a lonely boy who believed of a miracle of love at first sight.

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  13. I feel like the story is being told by first person point of view.The narrator does have a limited point in my opinion because he is creating this whole story with a conclusion and reasoning as to why he does not approach the girl, And I’ve gathered that based on his “love at first sight” attraction to her he gives he a personality with out even knowing her because he feels so strong about her.The narrator seems intimate with the imagination/possibility of her either feeling the same but in the end forgets which is ver bazar to me because his self-esteem is so low that he has to imagine and create this whole speech of what he could/would have said to her.When it comes to my own story I think I’m going to go with first-person point of view with a mix of dialogue because I feel its what would in a way bring the story to life.

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  14. In the short story, “On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning”, I think Haruki Murakami used the first-person narrator in the first part and he used a third-person narrator turn into in the second part to tell this love story. Since the author used “I” to tell us when he met his 100% perfect girl on the street, but he didn’t do and say anything with this girl, and his perfect girl lost in the crowd. He believed that this is the love at first sight. But in the second part, the author used the third-person narrator tell the love story as his wanted and thought. The narrator tries to convince audience by using the third narrator to tell us about the story of his lover and him. His tone was kind of cold and detached, because the final ending for the girl and him was not perfect. Their test and decision has made them separate and couldn’t get together, thus even they were in the same corner, but they just passed though each other.

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  15. The narrator is telling his story and he is the first person narrator. The story is about his dream girl which he didn’t find yet or maybe he found but he was not sure about it. I like the tittle of this story “On Seeing the 100%Perfect Girl One Beautiful April morning”.I like Murakami’s style of writing and its interesting . By 100% he doesn’t mean she has to be very pretty, he wants a girl who has a good heart. To him the look is not matter only matter is the heart connection between two person. I am not sure what i am going to write about but it might help me with my story.

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  16. I really like this story in which the author doesn’t only give us the fiction story in the first-person narrator, but also gives us the illusion of the narrator. I think I can put some illusion to my narrator as well. Also, the author gives us clear statement for narrator’s thoughts in simple and straight words which make the person vivid. I have an idea for my own story that I can use the first-person narrator, but as a girl I will write the narrator a boy. I think it will be interesting to model a different gender.

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  17. The narrator which is the author is telling a second person that his feeling towards a 100% perfect girl. He’s thinking how can he started a conversation with her. He wants to use a short and sad story to convey his feeling to the girl. I guess he wants use the story to persuade her what would it be without make a courageous decision to discover love for each other, the possible outcome that the couple might have live regrettable life. Not sure I will use the style to write my own short story, it seems too complicated.

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  18. The story present in first person at the first part and it changes to third person in second section. When he uses “I”, he expresses his own opinion that 100% perfect girl that he ever before met and he has no way to realize what the girl think of. But when it turns to third person, the author can design that he was the 100% perfect boy that the girl dream for. His tone is cool and calm. It doesn’t have extreme emotion.

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  19. I think that the first person is telling this story. The narrator experienced the story. His tone is cold and detached because he never been with the 100%Perfect girl . Sigh…..The life companion is often not the 100%Perfect people for us. It seem it did happen a lots in our life. By the time I finish reading this title of the story,I thought the story would be a interesting story and my mind imagined the picture of a boy hanging out on the street,but the thought-provoking story proved me wrong. And, this title of the story has two meanings, that inspired me how to using this way to expand my style of writing. I pretty much love this story like a rich,sultry film. This story possesses a very strong sense of picture.

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  20. The story is being told in 1st person in the beginning. After a while the author switches it to third person. The narrator has a limited point of view when he tells the story in the 1st person. He can only express what he knows his own experience. When he says the story in the 3rd person he tells us the history he had with the girl and he uses a more open point of view where we can see that the girl used to think of him as the 100% perfect boy for her. I like how the author first started telling the story of what was happening in the present and then went on to tell us about the past. I might use this in my story.

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  21. In “ On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning “ , the narrator is the author himself . It is the first person narrator . The narrator knows the actual feeling of love , the beauty. The appearance doesn’t mean he/ she is beautiful. There may be other criteria , that the narrator knows . The narrator speaks to the audience in direct and indirect way .He is telling his story of love at first sight , also imagine how was a real love between a boy of 18 years and a girl of 16 years old.

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  22. In the short story, “On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning”, I think Murakami used the first-person narrator in the first part of the story. After that the writer used the third person narrator in the rest of the story.
    The tone of this story is sad and the writer wrote the story sadly ending.

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  23. In the first section of the story, where the main character met the 100% perfect girl in his personal life, reasons why I think the first section is put in first person is he says the word “I” multiple times. The word “I” is used multiple times when writing in first person therefore leading me to the conclusion that the first section was first person. However there was a change in the last section where he is telling a story about two people who meet each other and think that their 100% perfect lovers for each other, in which he is not talking in first person because he’s telling a story about two people in this case i think he’s third person omniscient because he knows how they feel and what they’re thinking and much more. The narrator is very warm and caring for the people he is telling the story about. How i know this is because at the ending. He says “how sad” which makes me think that he actually cares for the two, he is not detached because at the end he compares himself to the people in the story where it shows he’s attached. In my story i will most likely use a third person omniscient narrator, because the narrator can tell how everyone feels which makes me think that it will enhance the story and characters.

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  24. The title of the story” On seeing the 100% Girl One Beautiful April Morning”, the author using the first person as narrator in order to mention his own taught.
    The author after that used a third person to tell another story. In general he combines between first and third person especially when he creates a similar story about perfect couple ” Boy and Girl”, how they meet in the street. The same as his own when he meet his 100% girl. Unfortunately he couldn’t talk to her or describe his feeling and taught.
    The tone of the story is very sad and cold but i like it. So far i am confused about my story, but i think going through what i am reading. I think i will have an good idea.

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  25. The story “On the 100/ perfect girl one beautiful April morning” is an exceptional love story of sorts, in which a man passes a woman he instantly recognizes as his perfect match on the street. He tries to think of what to say to her to have a moment of her time.
    This story is mainly for an adult or mature teen audience. The themes of love, loneliness, loss, and self reflection are relatable to adults as in the story line.
    I think the narrator used the first- person
    The tone of the story sounds very emotional, sensation, and conscious, very sad in the end.

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  26. The 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning this short story written by haruki ,murakami .
    person who was telling the story the second person narrator and he have limited point of view ,he was tone cold and detached intimate and warm .Then in this narrator used the love story . He was talking about two person met each other the first time and they talking a lot he thinking he find 100%perfect girl and she thinking she find 100%perfect boy they don’t .
    than both of them they believes the love in the first sight .
    I don’t for get to post your reply in the space available at the bottom of the page then the tone in this story was sad and lamenting the narrator at the end said yes that’s it that is what I should have said to her this mean he was sad and he should say something else better than this .in this story the girl also wants man perfect 100%and the man need woman also perfect in 100% in my opinion both of them they can’t be perfect all the time they can find any person he or she perfect 100% it is impossible to find it a lot of people had advantage and this advantage .
    All the people like this no one perfect 100%.
    than the boy and the girl both are human being the make mistake no body perfect 100%.and also Than no love in the first sight .

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  27. In this story, it used the first person narrator to described the writer met this 100% perfect girl. Besides, the writer used the third person narrator to state the story he wanted to tell the girl. The pity thing that was the writer lost the change to get know the girl and passed by each other because he didn’t see the girl mind in his view. While the narrator was described the story that he wanted to tell the girl, the view felt so warm and pure love, which was like miracle. It also encouraged people to be brave to seize any opportunities to speak out their feeling to others. Fortunately, my own story is love story too. I feel that is interesting to use not just the first person narrator to tell it, I could use the other person narrator to describe the story so that it is able to bring other view of my story, which could help go deep with the plot.

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  28. The narration is done in the first and third person points of view. The first person point of view inserts the reader into the situation, making the story very personal. The third person narrative gives a different, larger perspective on the story and gives us more of an insight into the concept of chance. From a characterization stand point the main character is portrayed as a regular person and really only encounters a regular girl but in his eyes, she is really more like a girl from another world. There is one other person in the story but only provides a little bit of dialogue and is not developed at all. The third person narrative develops the two different main characters in ways first person does not.

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  29. I feel like the narrator is the writer. He just used a character other than himself in the story. his tone was kind of depressed. Also, he has a limited time of view because I felt that he kept rewriting or rethinking the story many times from his own point of view.

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  30. in the story, “HarTheHaruki Murakami: On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning” author, Murakami, is using the first person narrator to describe his own story at the beginning. however, he uses a third-person narrator to tell another story in the second section to connect to his story and thoughts. Author mentions his first section about met a perfect girl for him on the street one day, but he hadn’t said anything to her. He lost the girl was lost in the crowd. The author felt regretted about doing nothing and desspread to finding his 100% perfect girl. On the second half,when he used third-perosn narrator he made up a story about a boy and a girl was perfect for eachother . They met on the street like the author did, but they tried to know each other. And, they had an amazing conversation. The boy met his dream girl, and the girl met her 100% perfect boy. Somehow, they decided to test themselves to see if they were the one. But actually the boy and girl met very awkred moment becasue They were married with someone who was not that perfect for themselves. And then, they met on the street again. It made everything which they forgot coming to their mind, but they already missed the right timing to get together.I think the tone of the story is sad and detached. And, I believe the narrator knows and can see inside of everyone’s mind. I like the way of the author telling the story.

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  31. in the story “On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning,” the narrator is the one who experienced the story. It was him that found his 100% perfect girl many years ago. Narrator knew that he found perfect girl, but he lost the chance, he let the girl go. He was thinking what he should say to her to star their conversation and what he can do to spend nice time if he finds her again. He was remembering that she was his 100% perfect girl for him, they lost each other. I think the story about a boy and a girl who was perfect for each other. They tried to know each other but they did not have enough time to realize how they loved each other. They want to know more about each other therefore, they decided to test themselves to see that they are perfect for each other. They could not make decision that time but they were perfect for each other. They married with someone who was not that perfect for themselves. I think when people are so young they do not know what they should do for their future and some time they take too long time to understand what is perfect for them because they are expectations more. Same the author thought that he would get more perfect girl but he was wrong that he realized long after when he married someone who was not perfect for him. Now he realized she was the perfect girl for him. I think, most of people do same like them. They found their lover, but they do not realize. He was so emotional when he told the story. I think, he wants to change everything what happened but he cannot change anything but, he could do that is remembered her and kept going. I really don’t like the story because it is too sad but from this story people have so many things to learn about life. I think every person should know how they want their life partner that is only way they could recognize their life partner. Same way I found my 100% boy who has all quality that I expect from my life partner. I can’t image the same situation happen to anyone, it is very painful. I hope everyone finds their 100% life partner.

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