国境の南、太陽の西

Considering the devastating review of this book on here serving as the only written evaluation of it, i feel compelled to write one too. Not because i want to invalidate the other review, but because i want to offer a different perspective. In addition, given Murakami's standing as a pretty controversial author, I think it would only be fitting that this has both a pretty negative, and a pretty positive review.

This is the first Murakami novel i have read, so I don't know what aspects of *South

This is the first proper novel I read, and for that reason I wanted to get to the end. It was also my first experience with Murakami's fiction (though I do own IQ84, I never got very far).

From a language learning perspective, it's really quite nice. For the most part the writing uses common, everyday vocabulary, fairly simple grammar, and a very plain style overall. Apparently Murakami includes magical realism in his work, but this one wasn't confusing at all. I've read almost entirely manga