Rachit
Kundera has a way of deconstructing the smallest of gestures and unwrapping their symbolic significance into entire sections - sometimes this feels profound, like his thoughts on kitsch, and sometimes it feels unbearably slow. Sometimes, and maybe this is because I don't see the symbolism fully, it feels kind of overdone.
I'd recommend the book overall, but it requires some patience.
The author is good at capturing tone and the book is somewhat interesting, but I think it lacks a very compelling plot. Also, sometimes the presentation of the characters makes them too distant to relate to. The details about Harvard are accurate, even surprisingly so :)
It has all the hallmarks of an excellent Bill Bryson book, but also all the shortcomings: the attention to detail is excellent and his tone just entices laughter, but it does move very slowly. How else can you stretch out one summer (and the decade of context before, really) into a whole book?
It reminds me of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but is just slightly less bewitching. Very fun to read nonetheless.
Confusing; the symbology is sometimes fatiguing rather than enlightening, and it feels like the Scarlet Letter sometimes in that way. But the plot is interesting to say the least and Murakami's style cannot be matched.