BOOK REVIEW: DRIVE MY CAR BY Haruki murakami

By devyani,

Mathematics hons,3rd year

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Designed and edited by mehak koundal (B.com,2nd year)

The Loneliness of Being Known

A story about grief, infidelity, and the quiet distance between people who think they know each other.

In Drive My Car, Murakami follows Kafuku, a theatre actor grieving the complicated truths of his marriage, and Misaki, the reserved chauffeur who drives him through Tokyo. What begins as an ordinary arrangement gradually becomes a space for uncomfortable conversations, shared silences, and the slow unravelling of emotions neither character fully understands.

The car becomes more than a means of transportation; it is a space where thoughts surface and silence speaks louder than words. Through their unlikely connection, Murakami explores how we can spend years beside someone without ever truly knowing them, and how strangers can sometimes understand our loneliness better than those closest to us.

With restrained prose and quiet symbolism, the story reminds us that intimacy isn't always romantic, and understanding someone doesn't mean knowing everything about them.

Perhaps the loneliest thing isn't being misunderstood, but realising that even the people we love remain, in some ways, strangers.