pretty sure this was on my to-read list because someone said it's the best murakami.

but that must've been a cruel prank.

reading murakami books is always a balancing act between how weird and cool his brain is and how much he hates women. 

i will let you guess where this one, which is not magical and centers around infidelity, lands.

so many completely insane things happen in this book: two guys in a bar who can't even speak about how a woman aged because it's too horrifying and disgusting; a guy who thinks it goes without saying that he would cheat on his wife whenever she's pregnant; a father-in-law being like "actually i'd prefer it if you would cheat on my daughter"; a motif of women with leg disabilities that is handled about as well as you would expect.

and then there are the normal misogyny tropes: a woman who doesn't know she's beautiful and that's what makes her beautiful. a woman who is despised by other women because she's simply too hot. women who are supposed to be attractive being continually described as teenagers.

it's so bad.

bottom line: as always, i am praying for haruki's wife.