** spoiler alert ** 
 A few days ago, I started this. I was very preoccupied with work, and it took me several days to wade through book 1. 
 I read all of books 2 and 3 in one night. 
 This book is very distinctly Murakami, however you may interpret that. Slow, deliberate, dreamlike narration, unnatural events, unrealities, unrequited love stories, and jarring sex scenes. 
 I almost retched at a certain part in Book 2. You know exactly which part I mean. 
 This is still very entertaining, and Murakami is in his element as he explores these intertwined worlds, combining mythologies, these two separate elements which *finally* reunite, but there is a certain intangible missing element which prevents it from being a masterpiece. I'm not quite sure what to say.