I can't afford a third star. I'm on a budget this month. I'm not fully sure what bothered me about this book. It was certainly readable. And not everything can be Kafka on the Shore. The mystical element was so subtle as to approach believability (if that's a word). Something about the psychology of the characters didn't work for me, perhaps because I was born in the wrong culture. But I was fine with other books of his.

There was something unmotivated --perhaps colorless--about Tsukuru's relationship with Sara. He talked it up but that was telling and not showing. His relationship with Haida seemed warmer and we have no idea what happened to him. And what's with the extra fingers? I'd ask my cat, but we don't understand each other, yet have a beautiful relationship.