Mariya Boyko

I read it back in high school, I think in grade 10. The book is definitely a classic. It meets all the criteria for a school book. I found the plot a bit slow, at times predictable. It is not bad for a school-age book. The moral is simple and understandable for students.

Murakami creates such bizzare, yet, so captivating worlds in his books, that your attention gets captured right from the first line. The story itself is very life-like. There are no crazy adventures, however, the complicated emotions of characters, and their relationships between each other are so intriguing, that I actually read this book in about 2 days, just because I couldn't put it down!

It is one of the books where you know exactly what the ending will be, right from the beginning. But I would not call it a shallow romance either. The story line is simple and straight forward. But the author takes time to describe the situations and feelings that a lot of us have experienced in our 20s - such as balancing your new career and relationship, choosing between 'settling ' for a current relationship or moving on, in hope of the perfect one. I felt pretty nostalgic while reading it. I would actually recommend it for teens or people in their early 20s. Maybe someone will feel better knowing that others go through the same struggles too.

I really liked how the author used metaphor of time travelling to emphasize emotional absence and irresponsibility. I'm not sure if this is a spoiler or not, but if you ever met people who have hard time keeping any of their promissis, and them backing out last minute, and somehow always having very "good" excuses - the main character is just like that. The book is well-written, but perhaps some chapters are way too stretched out. I found the main character VERY annoying, but it's great that the author was able to evoke those emotions in readers.

This is the best book about domestic abuse I read! A true psychological thriller. The author is brutally honest about depicting the characters. None of them us depicted as a 'saint', or a 'monster'. This makes the whole story deeer and scarier.