For me, I think the enjoyable thing about Murakami's books isn't necessarily the story line in the traditional sense. The story lines are always wacky, surreal,

For me, I think the enjoyable thing about Murakami's books isn't necessarily the story line in the traditional sense. The story lines are always wacky, surreal, etc. But the things that captivate me are the characters and world-building. The characters are deep. He does a really good job explaining what they're thinking and where they come from. In such surreal stories, they're surprisingly rational and consistent. I also feel like a lot of the author himself comes through the pages. You'll read a lot of really detailed descriptions of that jazz bar that one character visited (Murakami owned a jazz bar for some time). He talks a lot about cats (a cat lover, for sure), and all of the protagonists are males that have really similar personalities.