I only read this book because I love Haruki Murakami's writing. I literally would read an essay about eels if Haruki Murakami wrote it. But I have to say that I do not give any shit about the characters. Tsukuru is super uninteresting. One day he got dumped by his friends and then he became super depressed and whiny. Only later on he found out the reason and it was a major what-the-fuck-is-going-on session for me like always whenever I get near the ending of Haruki Murakami's books. This is not his best work, but read it anyway if you love Murakami because dude is awesome.