First Impressions

Although the book went off to a quite boring start, the author is very good ad giving twists to the story, and in a cryptic manner to always keep the reader hooked. The first inclusion of the mystery phone woman always keeps the reader always hooked. This technique can be seen several times through out the book, with the inclusion of other strange characters, like Malta, Creta and May, who never reveal much about themselves, and always keep both the protagonist and the reader confused. Most people seem to have commented that Murakami seems to insert random passages (or they might seem random) in the plot, in digressions to perhaps distract the reader. I noticed that as well, and I find it quite frustrating, like when Toru talks about when he fled his house without his parents knowing and came back, and they still hadn't noticed he was gone, or the detailed description of the Nomohoman battle or the operation  in Mongolia where the body was skinned. One thing I noted was that these passages tend to be quite descriptive and lack in dialogue compared to the rest of the story, like for example the military part in Mongolia. I must admit this book has surpassed my expectations, especially with the inclusion of intriguing characters such as Malta and Creta who add  suspense and mystery to the plot.

Also, the author seems to employ a lot of foreshadowing, especially in Book 1 where we find ourselves in the introductory stages of the book still.  The most evident case is when Toru tells the reader that he told Kumiko that once slept (in a bed, not intercourse, just slept) with another woman, and Kumiko warns him one day it will happen to him, and in the end she ends up having an affair. There are also a lot of motifs in the book, like the phone calls that were described by Arri, who always have an underlying meaning in the life of the protagonist, and also music, which Toru always notices no matter where he enters ( laundry shop for example) . I'm not entirely sure what the music motif is, just that it is very recurring and that the songs always seem to fit the situation, "Eight Days a Week" for example, by the Beatles.