Lars

(read as part of an omnibus edition)

Accessible and well readable, but as others have pointed out the language is often not very objective and the book would be served well if it contained some practical examples of theory application.

Bland and hollow characters, poor writing (though that may be in part due to the translation; I read the book in Dutch) and some of the most surface-level feminism imaginable.

Before I started this book, a friend warned me that it would be a poor introduction to Murakami and that I would be better off reading The wind up bird chronicle or Kafka on the shore instead. I decided not to heed their advice because I had only ever heard good things about this novel, but now that I've read it and read some of the reviews here on Goodreads, I understand where she was coming from. I didn't think the book was bad; but it also did not live up to the expectations I had based on Murakami's expectations. Since this seems to be considered one of his worst books by a significant margin, I am still certainly looking forward to reading more of his work.