“More than anyone, Haruki Murakami invented 21st-century fiction. . . . He is the novelist of our mash-up epoch. . . . Murakami’s atomic sensibility characterizes world literature.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Powerful, unsettling, mature novels. . . . Murakami gives his characters’ quirks a humanizing legitimacy.” —Chicago Tribune
“Early Murakami isn’t Murakami-in-the-making, it’s already and entirely Murakami.” —The Guardian
“Both books have that unique blend of melancholy and beauty that Murakami manages so well; they are mysterious, moreish. . . . What stands out . . . is the writing, beautiful in its simplicity, and also the deadpan humour and one-liners. . . . The dialogue is sparklingly clever, drunkenly witty.” —The Independent
“A fresh, heart-warming dose of the Japanese master. . . . Signals that would become familiar in Mr Murakami’s fiction make an early appearance: characters alienated by society and afflicted by loneliness and ennui; quotidian detail that is, by turn, banal and fascinating; musical references; supernatural undertones; dark dreams and black humour.” —The Economist
“Murakami’s trademark postmodernist flourishes abound . . . and never fail to surprise and delight.” —O, The Oprah Magazine
“Short, darkly magical coming-of-age tales.” —Elle
“Indispensable. . . . There is evidence of the themes, motifs and yes, obsessions, that would come to infuse his later books.” —The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg)
“An invaluable addition to the canon.” —Toronto Star
“A great treat—both for Murakami enthusiasts and for the more casually interested reader. . . . A pair of early literary excursions that are never less than insightful and intelligent; brisk and diverting; unusual and transporting.” —The National (UAE)
“The writing and, above all, Murakami’s way of making emotionally resonant images and symbols bump around on the page, and in one’s mind, remains fresh, miraculously, more than 35 years on.” —Evening Standard
