I actually was not expecting this to be such an addicting book. I literally cover to covered this entire novel in 4 days 😂 bought the physical copy to take notes in, and even have the audiobook now as well. The Awkward sex scenes made me laugh, the raw emotional moments made me tear up a little, and as always, the metaphysical parts will have me pondering for years. I think my favorite Murakami novel is still “The wind up bird chronicle” but man did I really enjoy this one too. If you are uncomfortable reading sexual content, I will say it is relatively tame? It’s not like house of leaves or wolf of Wall Street in that regard haha but I will admit to speed reading through one particularly steamy scene in the middle. I will say that it’s a bit predictable if you are familiar with the author, but I find the journey to be greater than the destination when it comes to Japanese works as a whole anyway, so despite honestly being able to predict the entire final half, I whole heartedly loved how he wraps up this story. If you like a love story but you crave a little more depth than just your typical “boy wants girl” or vice versa, this is one you should read. Would say it’s a solid 8/10 for me, which is higher than I’ve rated a lot of books in recent years honestly.

Seemed like it went on forever. Was glad i read it, though. Maybe they could hire Tengo to edit it.

Just didn’t launch for me. I found myself skipping through the meandering in-depth history/news events. Pages… and pages. Sorry to say I did not finish. Maybe I’ll try another one.

Amazing story until the end I think it’s the book that is taking me the longest to read because I have to read stop and assimilate the meaning of it Really enjoy it What a wonderful find Definitely recommend it All of his books are good reads Can wait to read more of his books

First book is a slow burn but then you won’t be able to put it down!

A love story? A journey through time? A fantasy ? An incredible piece of work? YES YES YES YES

Great story and well written. I think that some parts are painfully long and too much detail. Once the point is made, move on. Also, there is a lot of repetition throughout that could have been cut out making this a shorter read.

I could not put this book down. I’ve developed a new appreciation for Haruki Murakami — how his spare prose never gets in the way of the story, as well as his superb storytelling skills. He is one of the true masters of literature of our time.

A little of everything: love, mystery, fantasy, magic. Great well-developed characters. Hard to put down!

Yes it’s very long, but for me it flowed at a good pace and I was eager for each chapter... and to see the ending. But I also thought it left quite a few things unanswered and that dropped my rating from 4 stars to 3. But still, I think it was a good read.