I'm actually listening to this novel by way of an audio downloaded from the library.

It's delightful; I wasn't sure where I was at first - thought I might have started in the wrong spot, but it makes perfect sense now.

I'm looking forward to listening to some more tomorrow night.

Once I've digested the whole chapter, I'll involve myself in the discussion here.

It should start with Toru making some spaghetti and then receiving a phone call.

Looking forward to hearing your impressions of the novel!

My small town library didn't have this one. I put in a request to have it sent from another library, and have yet to hear back about it. In the meantime, I'm having difficulty keeping up with all the books I've started. I seriously annoy myself sometimes.

Well, even if you get it after the discussion officially "closes" we'll still be around to talk about it. At least I will!

Yes - that's exactly where it started, with him making the spaghetti and getting the phone call.

GaryG48 wrote:Yes, Murakami is a great story teller. The first chapter, as short as it is, sets the tone for the rest of the novel. Murakami actually keeps his readers interested in what are actually the mundane happenings of ordinary life. Then he springs the unexpected and truly surreal events on us. I'm glad we are reading this.

Yes, Gary - that first chapter does have a 'mundane' flavour. Even the phonecall he gets isn't that fascinating - that happens to people all the time.

Even his meeting with the young girl isn't extraordinary - it doesn't happen a lot, but it's nothing unusual. Everybody, at least once in a lifetime, meets somebody that's sexually agressive like that.

In today's scenario, an adult man, who isn't 'on the prowl', would be more cautious, I think. If a girl in her early teens invited a man into her yard, he would think about backing off. If the parents complained to the police, he'd be the one in trouble, not the kid.

WhimsicalWonder wrote:My small town library didn't have this one. I put in a request to have it sent from another library, and have yet to hear back about it. In the meantime, I'm having difficulty keeping up with all the books I've started. I seriously annoy myself sometimes.

Ha ha! I do that too. But recently, I've gotten smart. I know, it being summer, I'm not going to be inside at the computer a lot, so I can't have 5 or 6 books going at once.

I do read that many at once, at times, but don't necessarily get involved in discussions about them.

Within the first few pages of this novel, I was hooked. There is a mysterious feel about it that makes me want to read on. Murakami is a good story teller, I can see the foundation he is forming for the rest of the novel, and I suspect it will be full of surprises.

I agree, Suzanne, this is a good book. I was not sure if I was going to like or not but it definitely draws you in. I really like the main character. There is something about him. Maybe it is what GaryG48 said that Marakami keeps readers interested in the “mundane happenings of ordinary life”. Yet, what is interesting is that when he writes about things they are not so mundane. They are out of the ordinary in the ordinary, really. The people the character meets are somewhat strange or mysterious and he does not give a second thought about how unusual they are. And he does seem to get annoyed with things sometimes, but not irritable. This is a really fun book to read.

I can't put it down . . . I'm glad nobody told me it had been classified as 'porno' - I wouldn't have considered listening to it then. The sex is so 'light', it's hardly there.

But the ridiculous things that happen are . . . just can't imagine that happening to anyone.

I'm glad nobody told me it had been classified as 'porno'

Really? I mean, I know there are references to sex but I do not think it is anything compared to American movies. Who classified it as a porno?