It's not that I'm plot-focused — some of my favourite novels don't have much of a plot at all — but I expect a novel to provide a certain structure that has a point to it.
To me, Dance comes across as an immature sketch, an example where Murakami had lots of things he wanted to include, but he didn't know to create the architecture around which themes could come together. Some of the plot points seem like Murakami wanting to burrow into a kind of Lynchian Hollywood reality, with serial killers and weird hotels. I didn't find those as being interesting ways to explore the character's "internal journey".
Dance doesn't "click", whereas the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is extremely satisfying in the way it does.
To me, Dance comes across as an immature sketch, an example where Murakami had lots of things he wanted to include, but he didn't know to create the architecture around which themes could come together. Some of the plot points seem like Murakami wanting to burrow into a kind of Lynchian Hollywood reality, with serial killers and weird hotels. I didn't find those as being interesting ways to explore the character's "internal journey".
Dance doesn't "click", whereas the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is extremely satisfying in the way it does.