A naturalistic coming-of-age story… sprinkled with strange images and written in a hauntingly mournful key

[Murakmi’s] elegant, frugal prose creates a tale of courage and hope as Tsukuru tries to unlock the secrets of his past

Critics have variously likened Murakami to Raymond Carver, Raymond Chandler, Arthur C Clarke, Don DeLillo, Philip K Dick, Bret Easton Ellis and Thomas Pynchon – a roster so ill-assorted to suggest he is in fact an original

A rich and even brilliant piece of work… Genuinely resonant and satisfying

This is a book for both the new and experienced reader....[it] reveals another side of Murakami, one not so easy to pin down. Incurably restive, ambiguous and valiantly struggling toward a new level of maturation

Murakami’s prose seamlessly fuses folksiness and profundity… A harmonious blend of naivety and riddling sophistication’

Neat, economical, even minimalist... surprisingly painful and poignant

Murakami is like a magician who explains what he’s doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers . . . But while anyone can tell a story that resembles a dream, it's the rare artist, like this one, who can make us feel that we are dreaming it ourselves

Delicately crafted masterpiece

Remarkable… Spellbinding… [Murakami] is ever alert to minds and hearts…and to humanity’s abiding and indomitable spirit

This may be a radical change in style for the author, but not in quality

A book for both the new and experienced Murakami reader… There are moments of epiphany gracefully expressed… Reveals another side of Murakami

A fascinating exploration of who we are [and] the delusions necessary to navigate the world around us

A wonderfully imaginative and intimate book

Infused with emotional generosity and the spirit of forgiveness

Murakami has once again produced a perfect gem

Murakami weaved his mesmeric story-telling power once again with this new book…but still bearing the unmistakable purity of prose, economy of expression and simplicity of style that characterise his writing

A mysterious story about friendship, heartbreak and confronting the past, this book is surreal, existential and, therefore, classic Murakami

The tale is as absorbing as the prose is beautiful

This is classic Murakami, an isolated character struggling to make his way through a world both deceptively simple and utterly fantastical, his story told through prose infused with all the beauty and meaning of a Kyoto tea ceremony

His versatility and ability to craft a story is spellbinding… Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is a fine story that held my attention until the end.

Loneliness, sexual ambiguity and emotional repression- the perfect recipe for a novel that put Murakami back on my list of unputdownable authors

Kafkaesque, unusual and packed with sex and confusion, this is high-end prose… Murakami is remarkably prolific… A weird and very wonderful descent into the madness of contemporary Tokyo.

Nolan's narrator rips and picks at the threads and scabs of desire, hedonism and self-worth... in this searing first novel, Nolan is holding up a fantastically intense mirror to her protagonist and letting us make up our own mind about whether or not we will look away.

There are flashes of brilliance throughout, reminiscent of John Berger.

Acts of Desperation creates an immersive experience of toxic romance through a suffocating and addictive narrative.

Painful, sharp and absorbing.

A reflection on compulsion, addiction and what it's like to exist as a young woman in a world that is hostile to you. Read the first page and you won't be able to stop.

Nolan...stakes out thrilling new territory in an intense, unflinching novel that is always intelligent and utterly unafraid of ugliness.

A devastating stripping back of the gendered and politicised conditions that shape desire, a revelation of the unnerving ways we are made vulnerable to others in unequal systems. Its crisp, knowing prose is unparalleled, its anger remarkable.

Nolan's intelligent, elegant first novel, a gripping portrait of love turned toxic.

The star feature of Nolan's narration is her ability to cut through received ideas about women, relationships and even rape. Her headlong, fearless prose, feels like salt wind on cracked lips. You wince and you thrill.

A raw read of vulnerability, desperation, and most definitely a new voice in fiction

A thrilling read...if you want a visceral, honest, unputdownable summer read then this is it. You'll devour it in a day.

A very elegant novel, with coercive control at the core. She has such a strong voice and not a sentence is extraneous

I read this in one go... I found it raw, honest, brutal and real.

Written with acerbic style and wit, this is an intoxicatingly good look at romantic obsession, delusion and desire.

Beautifully written…and the short chapters keep things moving at an addictively fast pace. Most importantly, it’s shamelessly real