'Murakami writes of contemporary Japan, urban alienation and journey's of self-discovery, and in this book he combines recollections of the war with metaphysics, dreams and hallucinations into a powerful and impressionistic work', Independent .'Murakami weaves these textured layers of reality into a shot-silk garment of deceptive beauty', Independent on Sunday .'Critics have variously likened him to Raymond Carver, Raymond Chandler, Arthur C. Clarke, Don DeLillo, Philip K. Dick, Bret Easton Ellis and Thomas Pynchon - a roster so ill assorted as to suggest Murakami is in fact an original', New York Times .'Deeply philosophical and teasingly perplexing, it is impossible to put down', Daily Telegraph .'How does Murakami manage to make poetry while writing of contemporary life and emotions? I am weak-kneed with admiration', Independent on Sunday.
