Reviews

Very introspective. Tsukuru is a very easy character to understand-in his friend group of very unique people, he is not unique. He is literally isolated from his friends, physically and socially, when he moves away to college and they eventually cut ties with him. His sorrow is deeply rooted within him, and it truly is heavy watching him struggle. At times, it really does feel as if he walks alone in a desolate world. However, this is his journey towards understanding and acceptance, and it is beautiful. As one of Murakami’s works, it is beautifully written. The characters are hard to describe without spoilers, but they are surprisingly easy to get attached to. Spoilers follow, but otherwise, it is beautifully written, minus one weird scene.

Spoiler

The characters are realistic. They don’t hate Tsukuru after all these years, which almost adds to his despair. He was ostracized and essentially sentenced to death because of their lack of communication, but they did it for the sake of one of the members of the friend group. We know they’re not perfect, and Murakami makes it a point that practically no characters are flawless. However, they’re people that are complex yet easy to like.
The one scene I truly dislike is an erotic scene between Tsukuru and essentially three people. Not all of them are present at the same time, and it doesn’t actually happen in the events of the story, but it’s just a really weird scene. It’s something that I can understand may ruin the book for some people.

dreamloft's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

dandymandyreads's review against another edition

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2.0

This book was definitely interesting, but there's a lot of loose ends. Will certainly give Murakami another try because I enjoyed the pace and it obviously kept me until the end, but I don't think this particular book was for me.

There are a lot of weird events that tie together somehow in this one man's life, and he ignores it until he starts dating a woman that pushes him to dig into his past. As he's digging, you learn more and more about this guy's rather unique friendships and then the story ends with no true conclusion to the story - just a concluding note on the concepts and ideas this book dances around.

If you're into really philosophical stuff - definitely pick this up. If you want to be absorbed in a story like no other, then possibly not the most optimal choice.