My first Murakami! A writer whose reputation precedes him, particularly among my friends, coworkers, and basically everyone I met in college. Before I started this book, I asked around and looked online for suggestions on which one of his many works I should start with. I got a plethora of responses, ranging almost the entirety of his bibliography. Therefore, I just decided to start with his first novel, thinking that I'd probably read more of his work after this and generally enjoying consuming artists' catalogues in order. The belief that this would almost certainly not be my only Murakami came primarily from descriptions of the themes in his works: loneliness, isolation, aimlessness, disaffectedness in modern society, and so on, all currently right up my alley. The magical realism aspects were somewhat troubling, given that I have little tolerance for fantastical elements in my novels, preferring them to be bleak and hyper-realistic, but I trusted the wisdom of the crowds on this point, figuring that Murakami wouldn't be so popular and acclaimed by people whose opinions and tastes I respect and generally agree with if the magical realism really detracted from his works. 
 This is a novel that takes a character on a journey through Japan as he tries to find a mysterious sheep. Critically, this implies the presence of a full-fledged plot, complete with an exposition and a firm conclusion. I had heard that Murakami's books don't really have a plot, and that even if they do, the books still manage to have nothing happen in them. This viewpoint also colored my impression of Murakami, and made me think his writing would have the kind of slice-of-life, almost stream-of-consciousness style of Andrew Bujalski's early films, another point in his favor. I was slightly disappointed to find a rather straightforward plot: one that doesn't really add anything to the novel and serves only to get characters from place to place, a feat that could have been accomplished without such a traditional structure. 
 However, I can also see what those people meant when they described Murakami's style in that way: there is an air of a methodical, almost documentary-like structure to his prose, in which he details various thoughts by his characters and their surroundings intensely. The former was generally interesting, particularly in the beginning and end of the novel, while the latter, predictably enough, left me rather cold. This isn't a fault of Murakami's prose, I think, just a fault of my own biases and general disconnect from nature. The inner monologue was generally quite relatable, or at least not completely foreign or contrived, and while the quantity of the monologue wasn't as high as I would have liked, what was there was enough for me to at least like the novel as a whole. 
 The narrator, an unnamed man in his twenties whose defining trait is basically that he has none as he lives a self-described boring life alone, is generally inoffensive in the way that these kinds of characters usually are, and is a good vehicle for adventure, as various developments make impressions on his bland life and effect change on his character. Early on, he meets a mysterious woman whose ears have some kind of supernatural power to make everyone that sees them basically lose their minds. I found this character pretty distasteful, as she was very much a manic pixie dream girl, with no personality or anything notable other than a kind of invisible charm and a spunky attitude. This was rather disappointing, and I hope that his other works don't rely on this stupid trope. 
 The other very disappointing part of this book was basically the entire middle section, in which the characters begin their journey in earnest and travel throughout Japan looking for this sheep. This section was incredibly boring. The introspection that drove the book until that point was less frequent, and the plot was not exciting enough to compensate. I almost lost interest multiple times, though I never gave up on the book, partially because I really wanted to see what all the hype was about, and partially because I generally can't bring myself to give up on books. In any case, this section was exceedingly dull, and was only redeemed by the last third-to-a-quarter of the novel. 
 I won't say too much about this last section, but will mention that I liked it quite a bit due to the return of the introspection and some pretty relatable behaviors that the main character exhibits. Furthermore, the ending was very well-written, affecting, and closed up the story nicely (almost too nicely, though, especially the rather sappy epilogue). 
 I'm still not sure what makes Murakami so much better than other contemporary writers who write about vaguely sad, bored, middle class people. His prose was fine, though I usually didn't think it was fantastic, and his characters were nothing special, by which I mean they weren't all completely realistic. The book kind of tries to be philosophical, but never really quite gets there (which actually has kind of a charm). There certainly were bits and pieces that I really liked, and as a whole, I found the book a worthwhile enough experience, but I feel like I'm missing something. Maybe it's the apparent references to Shintoism, which would have flown right over my head. Maybe it's the magical realism, which didn't necessarily detract from the experience, but didn't add enough to prevent it from making the novel less relatable and raw. I don't know. Maybe I started with the wrong book. Since finishing this one, multiple people have told me to read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles next for a more well-developed work by Murakami, so I'll do that. In any case, I won't give up, especially since it's not like I disliked the book. It might be the case that if I ever come back to this one, I'll like it more after having read something a bit more fully formed and understanding Murakami's world a bit better.