It’s certainly a quieter and less surreal turn for Murakami. He presents this themes and ideas in a much less oblique manner. Yet don’t be fooled: Murakami works a lot into what may superficially just be a simple romance with the usual Murakami stamp. The novel has perfectly balanced tone and prose: quiet, introspective and incredibly ‘readable’. The flow was unstoppable. Definitely recommended for anyone who’s interested in getting a complete idea of Murakami’s style.

It started out fine but I’m getting jaded about the narrator’s love problems, the same way I get jaded about Winterreise despite all its emotional power. Just tired of the inexplicability yet assumed importance of it all.

Every few pages I keep slamming the book shut and putting it aside, frustrated by the narrator’s thoughts. Possibly it’s my recent crankiness. But I wasn’t this way with the other Murakami books.

I’ve read 3 or 4 other Murakami novels. “The Wind-up Bird Chronicle” is by far my favorite, but I liked “South of the Border” a lot. It is familiar territory for Murakami, but as Bill Turner mentioned, it’s refreshingly realistic, i.e. no pseudo-mystical elements or events. Besides, liking Murakami means you have to like middle-aged male narrators vaguely unsatisfied with their generally happy existence who are into jazz and women that like to disappear, etc, etc. The translation is a bit bland, but it does the job.

This is one of the more mediocre novels from Murakami.

This is my favorite book by Murakami so far.

Perhaps slightly too well-trodden Murakami terrority (the detached loner narrator, the distant, perfect not-quite-lover), but still a complex origami of the mundane.

I’m a huge Murakami fan, but only a recent convert, so I still have many of his books to read. Having now finished this, I’m glad I read it. This novel has less mystical/spiritual details than some of his others, which was quite refreshing. Although I’m not sure I could relate completely with the main character all the time, the writing was superb, and the dialogue more than believable.