It is a brutal tale of lost youth in a Japnese port town close to an American military base. Murakami's image-intensive narrative paints a portrait of a group of friends locked in a destructive cycle of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Representing a sharp and conscious turning away from the introspective trend of postwar Japnese literature, this book polarized critics and public alike and soon attracted international attention as an alternative view...