haruki murakami is interesting. i love his novels because he writes in full detail allowing us readers to actually form a clear picture of what he is trying to convey. i have to agree about his novels being vague though, but thats whats fun about it. you can read the novel several times and each time, you get a different interpretation of what it means. i have read after dark, sputnik sweetheart, norwegian wood, underground, after the quake and blind willow, sleeping woman.

Lol, I'm a Haruki Murakami reader, though a starter at that.

Currently reading Wind - Up Bird Chronicle.

Like Quacksilver, I love the parts that portray the experiences of the lieutenant. Especially the part where he says that he was no longer "living" , just existing.

Can't say I like the rest though. May and the rest of the characters are just too weird, and while I get that this is a surrealist book, I can barely discern a theme or plot that actually makes sense behind it.

I love the way loneliness is portrayed in the characters though.

To be someone's husband for so many years, and still feel as if he never really knew her at all speaks of a great emotional loneliness - the inability to connect.

Which is better, Kefka on the shore or After Dark? considering one more try at Murakami before I give up on his works