khiemtran | Murakami Haruki

It was interesting to note that almost every story had a Guide of some form, who was there to lead the protagonist onto some kind of self-discovery. Sometimes this was done almost inadvertently, other times the guide was explicitly there to do this. This technique allowed for some surprisingly passive protagonists while still keeping the plot moving. Not all the protagonists were passive, of course, but at least one actually came to the realisation that he'd be passive all along and what he really needed was something to push him into the action that he knew he needed to do.

Great, interesting characters (especially those in the guiding roles). Plot beats every five paragraphs or so. It read to me as though it had been written very easily, though of course that might not have been the case. Lots of interesting situations and ideas, but no obvious signs of situations being set up beforehand. When ideas recur or the story twists back upon itself, it feels as though it was a flash of genius, and not a crafty trick that the author had prepared earlier.

The prose style was quite light (in translation), letting the ideas take centre stage and giving them time to soak in. Very easy to read and also to skim.

Finally, a great sense of humour, especially in a dark tone.