elle_reads's Reviews (446)

Much more accessible than other Murakami works I've read. It is a misleadingly simple plot that only comes to fruition with the character's self-realization. A great story depicting the loss of childhood friendship and the implications it can hold in someone's life.

Two favorite quotes:
"Some things in life are too complicated to explain in any language" (218).
"And really, does anybody know who they are? So why not be a completely beautiful vessel? The kind people want to entrust with precious belongings" (274).

I think I imagined the main character "walking slowly" and intaking his visual surroundings for a majority of the book.

I know I'm supposed to love this book, but I found little interest in the character. It is probably just me; I have little interest in woe-is-me characters that don't actually reflect on the inner meanings they live. I don't like shifting through detailed accounts of the character running out of cigarettes instead of focusing on the psychological changes occuring. I know I'm supposed to infer the changes, but I honestly find it boring to keep doing that for each step without a specific purpose. I prefer writing that uses this strategy more selectively.

It was just too Catcher in the Rye for me. I don't really like that book either. I think my angsty teenage self might have liked it, but now I just want the characters to get over themselves.

I understand why it won awards and all, but I just didn't connect. Maybe I'm just too big a fan of people turning into cockroaches.

This is a book I would have absolutely loved when I was younger. Endless action and magic - now, as a more experienced adult reader, I look for more. Nevertheless, it gave me a sweet appetizer of nostalgia for all the medevial books I consumed one after the other in my youth.