[DeepL Translation - needs review] Volume 1 Introduction: "Isn't it wonderful when a person dies?" she was talking right in my ear, and her words slipped softly into my body along with her warm, moist breath. Why? I asked. She placed a finger on my lips as if to seal it. Don't ask questions," she said. And don't open your eyes. Do you understand?" I nodded, my voice as small as hers. (From the text)
(Translator: DeepL)
It’s messy in the way a life crisis is messy: too long, too quiet, then suddenly violent.
Overall I really liked the trilogy. It’s ambitious, atmospheric, and unlike anything Murakami had written up to that point. At the same time, the pacing is undeniably uneven. There are stretches where the prose becomes almost narcotic in its slowness, not because the plot demands it, but because Murakami seems to have surrendered completely to the flow of his own subconscious.
In that sense, the novel feels like an experiment, a deliberate attempt to break free from his earlier, tighter narrati