I often don't mind when nothing happens in a book or movie. I actually really like reading stories about people simply going through their lives, thinking about their situations or reacting to whatever mundane things are happening. These stories are relatable and often make me more emotional than stories which have more going on. The problem with this book is not that nothing happens, as I kind of expected going in, but rather that things actually do happen. 
 In fact, a lot of things happen. A lot of insane, crazy things. Things that would never happen in the real world. Things that are just plain magical. Murakami contrasts these fantastical happenings with his characters, who are dull, bored, and disaffected. These are not negative qualities, in my opinion. I really liked most of the characters in this book; their thoughts felt real and their dialogue, while a bit too erudite for the casual feel that their interactions had, mostly rang true. The problem comes when Murakami inserts these characters into the dream worlds he has created for them. 
 Every time a character entered or found him or herself in a bizarre situation, I could not help but lose interest. I did not want to read about someone coming to terms with someone who was telepathic, or having visions, or something like that. These were not situations that I could relate to, and they said and meant very little to me. Furthermore, they were not entertaining or exciting, because of the muted nature of the characters who were experiencing them. Hence, I did not get a series of revealing episodes which made me empathize with the characters or imagine myself in their situations, nor did I get something that was so insane and crazy that I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen. 
 Of course, this complaint is somewhat about myself. I was not willing to put myself in those situations and involve myself in their proceedings. Part of the reason why I did not do this is that I do not have a very good imagination. However, another part is that the end result of these situations is almost always the status quo, at least in terms of the characters' emotions (particularly those of Toru Okada, the main character). One could also say that this is very realistic, which I can agree with, but in that case, then I don't really know how the magical realism adds anything. All it did was take me out of the moment and make me feel like the novel had very little to do with me, and even if I imagined that it did, didn't have many opinions on how a person like me might deal with being in such a story. 
 But maybe this isn't a book that is supposed to be relatable. Maybe it's a "mood book" that puts you into a state where you can kind of lose yourself in the constant happenings and pleasant prose. I think there's something to that, but that feeling was undercut by the book's inordinate length. It just kept going and going, and the more I read, the more I felt like it wasn't worth the time it was asking for. Eventually, the almost singular tranquility that I did feel at the start was replaced with a vague boredom, and nothing was really able to pull me out of that. 
 It might also be the case that I didn't relate to this book because I am not Japanese. There might be references that I'm not getting, like in A Wild Sheep Chase, or the war stories might have meant more, or something. As is, I found the war stories in particular to be digressions that didn't do anything for me, and did not enjoy them at all. 
 Of course, I did like some parts. I really liked May Kasahara's dialogue and narration, especially by the end, and thought them to be relatable, thought-provoking, and uncontaminated with the magic that infused the rest of the book. I also liked the ending, which wrapped up a lot of the loose ends nicely. 
 I thought I would really like this book. It felt right up my alley, with its modern, vaguely disaffected characters and Murakami's propensity for describing the mundane as though it is extremely important. In the end, I feel like it didn't really do anything to me. It's not going to stick in my head, and it didn't teach me anything. It wasn't incredibly entertaining, and I felt glad to be done with it. I don't necessarily think it was a waste of time, because there were some worthwhile moments, as one would expect in a 600 page novel by an accomplished writer, but it was too close to that for me to like it much.