I'll be the first to admit that it's slightly ridiculous that a Murakami die-hard like me has waited this long to read Kafka on the Shore, but despite that I was not disappointed in the slightest. I actually felt that I liked this more than I would have had I read this as my first Murakami, but regardless it felt like a combination of all the best bits of Murakami (plus some of his slightly more questionable bits).