Not sure where I picked up the reference to this author - wish I could, as the novel was quite quirky and a good read. Murakami is a modern Japanese author who seems to have been strongly influenced stylistically and tonally by the noir genre of American detective novels. While the main character is not a detective, he spends most of the book trying to unravel a mystery, or series of linked mysteries introduced into his life through some kind of paranormal experience. There is something of the Paul Auster mysteries in this book, but it is more disturbing and unpredictable, less of a philosophical or existential exercise.
It's hard to say in any sense what the book is really about, either story-wise or theme-wise. It hangs together though, partly as a look at some kind of life experience existing beneath or outside the normal surfaces of existence. Almost like some kind of parallel universe. I suspect I may have gotten the reference from Robert Anton Wilson, as there is something of the idea of reality tunnels at the heart of this book.
I would like to find more by this author to see if he carries through with this approach.
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