We begin with a nameless young couple: a boy and a girl, teenagers in love. One day, she disappears . . . and her absence haunts him for the rest of his life.

Thus begins a search for this lost love that takes the man into middle age and on a journey between the real world and an other world—a mysterious, perhaps imaginary, walled town where unicorns roam, where a Gatekeeper determines who can enter and who must remain behind, and where shadows become untethered from their selves. Listening to his own dreams and premonitions, the man leaves his life in Tokyo behind and ventures to a small mountain town, where he becomes the head librarian, only to learn the mysterious circumstances surrounding the gentleman who had the job before him. As the seasons pass and the man grows more uncertain about the porous boundaries between these two worlds, he meets a strange young boy who helps him to see what he’s been missing all along.

i kind of wished that murakami wouldn't include something sexual in this book, but what would a murakami novel be without it? the beginning of the novel was really slow and a bit uncomfortable – our male MC is middle-aged but is still yearning for the relationship he had with a girl at seventeen. the rest of the novel continues on the slow, sluggish pace. descriptions of imagery were plentiful, making the reading experience a delight. however, i don't think many of the characters in z** town were thoroughly explored. for example, the young boy who eventually goes to "that" town is still a mystery even at the end of the book. how did he shed his physical skin? how did he get there? did male MC and the boy combine?

the book wrapped up too quickly, and the pace drastically quickened, leaving readers (me) with lots of unanswered questions. i think it will be a while until i pick up another murakami.