Titled “Picture of Fate: I Am but a Fisherman Who Angles in the Darkness of His Mind,” the Murakami is dominated by the exotic karajishi, or “China-lion,” who guards the threshold of Japanese Buddhist temples and is a frequent subject of Chinese and Japanese artists.

A unanimous exclamation called upon Evelyn himself to speak; and, after a minute's politic pause, he went on to state his plan.

Next time you go out for a hamburger, ask your sixth grader to find the toponyms. They are words that come from the names of places, like hamburger comes from Hamburg, Germany.

Afy slowly gathered in the sense of the words. She gasped twice, as if her breath had gone, and then, with a stagger and a shiver, fell heavily to the ground.