I have just started but lines like this amaze me: " I stepped out of the shower and died my hair, rubbed on body lotion, cleaned my ears. Then to the kitchen to heat up the last of the coffee. Only to discover: no one sitting at the opposite side of the table. Staring at that chair where no one sat, I felt like a child in a De Chirico painting, left behind all alone in a foreign country. Of course, a tiny child I was not. I decided I wouldn't think about it and took my time with my coffee and cigarette." I think the translator, Alfred Birnbaum, completely understands Murakami's voice. I wish my Japanese were better to read the original Japanese, but this translation is like jazz music.