This was my first book by the author Murakami I have read. It took me only a few days because I don't wanted to stop reading at all. Here my thoughts about the book:

Style
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First of all, the style how Murakami tells stories. Especially how he describes the characters and their behaviour. I felt with them and it never crossed my mind that the characters behaved in a way I can't understand. The book is a lot about the transition of childhood to adulthood with many sexual sences. But I never found them disgusting or in a way 'too much'. For me it was more like the expression of love.

Story
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Murakamis main character is Toru Watanabe, age 19-23 while he studies in Tokio. The story is written in first person and has next to Toru about 4 other main characters: Naoko, Midori, Nagawase (spelled a bit different) and Reiko. Naoko is his first girlfriend and the woman he is in love with. Both shared time in their youth together with their friend Kizuki, who commited suizid.
Naoko suffers, like many other persons in the book, from a psychic disease.
Murakami tackles problems in the Japanese society not directly, I would say. Instead its more in the subcontext. The characters mainly focus on themselve and often act in a egoistic manner. Futhermore, many people gave up their lifes in the book in one way or another. Often it is not really clear why they choosed to do so. Instead the persons personal story give a hint which circumstances and influences from the outer and inner world led to that decision.

Résumé:
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For me it is a story about growing about. Breaking free from inner and outer boundraries and the courage that is needed to risk living our life. The Novel has a lot a themes like music and a very nice story telling rythm. I would recommend it :)