Religion, sex and mania bursting hoof-footed from suburban doors

Not since The Catcher in the Rye has there been such a believable portrayal of male puberty. The quality of story-telling and the cadence of the prose have a piercing authenticity

As a technician [Parks] cannot be faulted. His book builds to a terrifying tour de force, made bearable only by the tight prose

He can write, at will, like a modern Henry James, proceeding with composure through the labyrinth

The novel's triumph is in elucidating the hurt of both child and parents. Lalwani compellingly depicts the pain and pleasure of breaking the rules

Beautiful, brilliant . . . Unveils the grand emotions and tiny details of other people's lives with insight, compassion, humour and heartbreaking honesty

Accomplished and confident. Much to admire from the assured descriptions to the well judged blend of comedy and drama

A poignant, vivid debut. Beautifully describes the dramas of growing up

A giddy portrayal of youthful exuberance unleashed that rings startlingly true

Compelling, heart-wrenching and laced with redemptive hope . . . Touching and funny

Such is the exquisite, gossamer construction of Murakami's writing that everything he chooses to describe trembles with symbolic possibility

Vintage Murakami [and] easily the most erotic of [his] novels

[A] treat...Murakami captures the heartbeat of his generation and draws the reader in so completely you mourn when the story is done

Murakami's most famous coming of age novel of love, loss and longing

Catches the absorption and giddy rush of adolescent love... It is also, for all the tragic momentum and the apparently kamikaze consciousness of many of its characters, often funny and quirkily observed.

[A] treat . . . Murakami captures the heartbeat of his generation and draws the reader in so completely you mourn when the story is done.

One of the most poignant and evocative novels I have ever read

Poignant, romantic and hopeless, it beautifully encapsulates heartbreak and loss of faith