Yes! This is exactly it, and exactly how I feel about Murakami. At first, I was really confused, and couldn't tell if I enjoyed reading his works or not, but then I became infatuated with that confusion. As much as I read and reread, it's always there, and it's surreal, because I don't feel like that with any other author or artist or musician or anyone. I love it. It's only recently that I've been able to put my vague thoughts about Murakami into words, and it only works in these mostly unstructured blog posts. As soon as I try to work them up into something different, something more planned and formal, I begin to question myself and what I say so much that it all gets thrown away. Do you mind if I use your response in another blog post? I have another one about reading Murakami and that strange not-knowing-what-to-say sort of reaction, and you're the first I've talked to who has put it in a similar way to how I react.
I think that is a great descriptor of the emotion I get from his work. This goes back to your point about being personal and impersonal at the same time. I think the surreal feeling is because you can't fully grasp or wrap your hands around the whole thing. Go for it. You can attribute it to insom and link here or just say just "your friend Taylor" if you don't want it have my username plastered all over your site. I'm not picky in the leastand it's surreal
Do you mind if I use your response in another blog post?