This was pretty good. At first I wasn't so into it, there was something a little dry about Murakami's writing style which hasn't bothered me in his other books. I also didn't really understand what was happening and why there were two stories. The lack of character background bothered me as well. That said, as the story progressed and the plot revealed itself, I came to respect the allegorical nature of the story. The main character lacks depth due to his unique mind composition and also, perhaps, due to the brain surgery he has undergone. The female characters, both of whom sort of shepherd him, have strange biological and character details but still seem to be one dimensional. Everything is even more one dimensional in the main character's subconscious and I enjoyed teasing apart the shades of one dimensionality and how they reflected one another in the two stories.