Toru Okada's cat has disappeared and this has unsettled his wife, who is herself growing more distant every day. Then there are the increasingly explicit telephone calls he has started receiving. As this compelling story unfolds, the tidy suburban realities of Okada's vague and blameless life, spent cooking, reading, listening to jazz and opera and drinking beer at the kitchen ...

Toru Okada's cat has disappeared and this has unsettled his wife, who is herself growing more distant every day. Then there are the increasingly explicit telephone calls he has started receiving. As this compelling story unfolds, the tidy suburban realities of Okada's vague and blameless life, spent cooking, reading, listening to jazz and opera and drinking beer at the kitchen table, are turned inside out, and he embarks on a bizarre journey, guided (however obscurely) by a succession of characters, each with a tale to tell. (20021018)

村上春樹（1949- ），日本小說家。曾在早稻田大學(xué)文學(xué)部戲劇科就讀。1979年，他的第一部小說《聽風(fēng)之歌》問世后，即被搬上了銀幕。隨后，他的優(yōu)秀作品《1973年的彈子球》、《尋羊冒險(xiǎn)記》、《挪威的森林》等相繼發(fā)表。他的創(chuàng)作不受傳統(tǒng)拘束，構(gòu)思新奇，行文瀟灑自在，而又不流于庸俗淺薄。尤其是在刻畫人的孤獨(dú)無奈方面更有特色，他沒有把這種情緒寫成負(fù)的東西，而是通過內(nèi)心的心智性操作使之升華為一種優(yōu)雅的格調(diào)，一種樂在其中的境界，以此來為讀者，尤其是生活在城市里的人們提供了一種生活模式或生命的體驗(yàn)。