海辺のカフカ〈上〉

Great & very strange read

I have loved reading this book, and a lot of that is to do with the writing style. There are some slightly more tricky sections (some that are written in the style of military reports) but in general the amount of unknown vocab was manageable and the writing style very fluid and straight forward, making this feel like a comparatively easier read to other books I was reading at the same time. As the other review has noted, you have to be prepared for some Murakami signature nonsense, ie weird sex scenes and some pretty graphic violence/animal cruelty. This is balanced however with some incredibly endearing characters (Nakata in particular is a real highlight) and the really enjoyable prose I mentioned. So, probably not for everyone but definitely one I would recommend if you think you can handle the weird/graphic bits!