Spoilers ahead
I enjoy reading anything by Haruki Murakami. The last book of his that I finished before this was A Wild Sheep Chase, and before that, 1Q84. What struck me about this novel was the down to earth nature of the story. Set around Tokyo in the late 1960’s, this book follows Toru Watanabe and his various relationships. This book is a love story at it’s core, without any of the mysticism that Haruki Murakami normally brings to his stories.
His writing, as always, is beautiful. The story was well paced with tension ebbing and flowing throughout, coming to a head at the end. I enjoyed the structure of the novel. It read as a biography and I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that it was. It felt realistic and complex. Weaving in the letters was a nice touch and helped to bridge the different characters together.
I was expecting Midori and Watanabe to get together at the end of the story. The ending is something that I will need to reread to fully understand.
I felt calm reading this book. Despite the challenges Watanabe faced the writing was clear and almost meandering. I found myself relating to Watanabe at times. He can be entirely oblivious to the people around him. So can I.