Dread - go ahead and discuss, just use spoiler tags.
Finished! I really enjoyed this for multiple reasons.
1. Far different style from anything else I've read. I have no clue what is due to translation, what is Japanese style, and what is Murakami himself, but still, very intriguing from a style standpoint. This isn't to say I loved every moment of the style, but it definitely made me pay attention.
2. Characters. Solid, filled-in characters that react as they should (within such a crazy universe, but still). So many people and all of them real to me, no matter how wacky.
3. Settings. I can see the house with the dead end alley behind it, I can see Honda's hut, I can even see the wig factory. All places in an alien culture to me, but so skillfully drawn that I felt present.
Let's drop the number format.
Spoiler:
I thought the story was great, once it got going. It took a while to do so. I really didn't feel enthralled with it until Kumiko disappeared. As soon as that happened my reaction was "finally, something is happening!" Up until that point it was tedious, every day life, with Kumiko coming and going. Looking back I know it's a purposeful contrast but still, I think there was a bit too much set up.
Toru's go-with-the-flow personality that Euro mentions really intrigued me as a contrast to most everything else I've ever read. He wasn't "whipped" per se, he just dealt with things in a manner that I'm not used to. Instead of scrambling around in an embarrassed fashion desperately trying to figure out which way is up (as a British character might - Neverwhere, anyone?), or turning aggressive and hacking his way through (as an American character might), he centers himself and lets these things happen to him until it comes clear where and how he should act. I wish I were more like that.
I was a bit disappointed in not having a face-to-face with Noboru Wataya at the end. Giving him a stroke from afar was anti-climactic.
I loved all the history. If I had ever known about the Chinese/Japanese stuff in WWII, I had forgotten it. It was easy to get wrapped up in the portraits of the zoo, the Siberian mine, the Mongolian desert. Beautifully painted.
More to say later, gotta go.