I was looking for new authors and came across a lot of strong opinions on Murakami, good and bad, on Goodreads. I thought I'd give him a shot. But i absolutely hated it. What I don't know is if its a bad translation, or if its Murakami's style itself, but I felt it was just horribly written. His similes and metaphors were amateurish and misfit; Her resolve was a regular Rock of Gibraltar. His descriptions seem forced; ...to help prop up her uncertain life here on this third planet from the sun.And his sentence structures and overall story seem simple and flat.
I had just finished reading Michael Pollan, who I feel has an incredibly compelling narrative style, and in comparison I just couldn't get into this book at all. I felt I should maybe give him another shot, but I spoke with some friends who had similar experiences with other of his books so I feel I'm not missing much.