Another Murakami? I thought you didn't like the Wind Up Bird thing. 
 This is a different guy. It must be like Smith or Patel over there. 
 Two stars? Not that good then? 
 Well... nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnot really, but.... 
 ....yes? 
 It could have been. He lumbered himself with this boring serial killer oooh oooh Frank Booth-in-Blue Velvet nutcase when he should 
 - in your humble opinion! 
 - yes, yes, all this stuff in my HUMBLE opinion, I'm not the arbiter of recentish Japanese novels, I've read exactly three - 
 - all right, no need to get ratty - 
 - I'm just saying that this particular Murakami was hovering all the time over some really interesting questions about Japanese society such as the idea of high school girls and "compensated dating" - 
 What? 
 Exactly - these girls are not exactly on the game but they go on "dates" with older guys and get the guys buy them stuff, this little novel mentions various phenomena of the sex trade like that, and his protagonist muses on why in such an affluent country girls would do that, it's not like they're short of a bob or two, these are not skanky crack-heads. 
 The blurb says this is all about loneliness. 
 Yes, it could have been a meditation on Japanese loneliness through the prism of the Tokyo sex-trade. That would have been interesting. 
 Sounds like one of your crap art house movies. 
 Thanks. 
 Hey, I sat though enough of those. What was that last one? L'Humanite? and the one before that? Lourdes? I mean, OMG. Paint dries faster than those movies. Did you know they're called motion pictures for a reason? Like, there's supposed to be motion in them, as opposed to some loser staring into space for like two hours that felt like six hours? I bet an entire galactic civilisation rose and fell while I was watching that one. 
 Er, we're drifting away from the topic here. 
 But when I want to go and see something normal at Cineworld, it's oh no, look at these reviews and blah blah... what's wrong with 3D anyway? Too many Ds for you? 
 Er, this is still just light-hearted banter isn't it? 
 Oh yes. Just banter. 
 It gives me a headache. 
 What? 
 3D. 
 Oh. Right.