Foreign books

I'm catching up on reviews!  I've read two very different books in translation recently. 

From Japan, I read Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgimage by Haruki Murakami.  It is about Tsukuru Tazaki, a man in his mid-30's who designs train stations (it's a better job in Japan than here I suppose) who's neither happy nor unhappy with his life.  He had intense friendships with 4 friends in high school but, during his first year of college, all 4 cut him off completely and will not tell him what happened.  He lets them go until a girlfriend tells him he needs to find out what happened to move on with his life.  He goes on a journey to contact them and discovers why things changed.  I liked it but Murakami tends to give us half-endings. He always leaves you wanting 1 more chapter of info.  This one ended up a 5 for me. 

From Sweden, I read Little Star by John Ajvide Lindqvist.  It is a horror novel. It also has some big unanswered questions, which, strangely, a ton of the books i've read this year seem to have.  It was a pretty horrific, and bloody, girl-power book.  Half the time I was rooting for the girls, half the time I wanted them stopped, at least until the end.  Also a 5.