Murakami Strikes Gold...Again

Over the course of a single evening, Murakami weaves together the stories of two sisters, one of whom is in a perpetual sleep-state and another who lives on the fringes, reading books in late night diners, an amateur trombonist, and a love hotel called Alphaville where a Chinese prostitute is beaten by a computer programmer who goes days without ever seeing his wife or children. The regular loneliness all of the characters, yet when you read about them on the page, you always can’t help but wonder why it is they are so lonely or why it is no one in the fabric of Murakami’s world, people are not all over them.

The narrative goes back and forth between the two sisters – Mari and Eri – and you keep reading at a faster and faster pace so as to find out how the two storylines intersect. Reading Murakami is as addictive as everyone says it is. I’m in my first year of law school and was still so engrossed that I finished this book in less than two days.

Both long-time Murakami fans and new ones alike will marvel at this work.