I just finished reading this. Finishing the book feels like waking up from a long dream I'll probably forget in a few hours. Carl Jung was obviously an influence, and the book had a strong mythic, dream-like quality to it, while still maintaining a solid groundedness in its way. It definitely takes a master novelist to maintain that for 1150 pages. While reading it I could feel the story working on me on a really deep archetypal level, like any good fantasy novel, but I still don't really get it. Anybody have any interpretations?
Also, how does it compare to Murakami's other books? This is the first I've read by him.
