Pedro N N itibaren Ramthala Chauki, राजस्थान 304507, Hindistan
I first read this in 2002. To read two books in one, to interweave the plot and yet keep them apart, is no mean achievement. To also introduce the such difficult topics as memory loss on the one hand and on the other hand bisexuality was a light to me and my friends too. I am currently re-reading this. It is always good to do this; and to compare my current thinking with the marginal notes I had made on the first reading.
I almost put it down after the first few pages. I'm really glad I didn't. Like great filmmakers Hitchcock and David Lynch, Murakami sets up a very normal scenario at first - a teenage boy's drive to escape his imperfect, average life...then turns the cliche on it's head. It has moments of graphic violence and explicit sex, both arising naturally and refreshingly from the plot, rather than being gratuitous or obligatory. It is dark, surreal, romantic and absurd, and deals with love and death and becoming an adult in a powerful, unique and memorable way.