I think some people might be uncomfortable with sexual content, so I usually avoid writing about it in reviews. But in Haruki Murakami's novels, such topics come up quickly if you let your guard down, so I can't just ignore them.
I have no problem at all with the messy and literary sexual depictions by authors like Junichiro Tanizaki, Ryu Murakami, or Hitomi Kanehara. Recently, I could even enjoy the sci-fi sexual depictions in Sayaka Murata's World 99, despite sometimes feeling nauseous, because of its wildly imaginative world.
Yet, for some reason, Haruki's sexual depictions evoke the strongest sense of disgust in me. Especially the recurring flashbacks of Tengo's mother when he was an infant, the sexual abuse scenes of the girl Tsubasa, and honestly, I seriously thought about closing the book.
I think what bothers me is the choice of words and the medically precise level of detail in the descriptions—I wish it was more like PG-12 level content!
Aside from that, I was drawn in by the meticulous descriptions; the characters and their backgrounds were well established, and the story really started to move forward—that's where Book 1 (parts one and two) ended!