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Summary: A gentle, disturbing, and ultimately satisfying love story.
Review: This book haunted me all the while I was reading it. I would go and hide and read it, frequently when I was supposed to be doing something else. The basic plot involves a twenty-something unemployed middle-class japanese man whose wife apparently leaves him unexpectedly. Ultimately, plot becomes irrelevant, although the mystery of her disappeareance is a powerful thread that runs through the tapestry of the rest of the novel. This is a wild book. Steeped in mysticism, spirituality, and the ghosts of recent Japanese history. Every character has a doppelganger of sorts, and reflects certain aspects of the other character's soul. There are disturbingly erotic passages, and some very graphic violence, although never gratuitous. Unfortunatley, the truth of the past century is graphic, and the author dosen't pull any punches. The book obviously contains many references to the various religious movements of the past century in Japan, including Shinto. After reading it I wish: a) I could speak and read Japanese; and b) that I knew more about Shinto and how it led to Japan's military agression in WWII. However, I think I know a lot more about the Japan and this topic than I did before I read the novel. This is a world-class piece of literature, and as such imparts as much in the manner of its telling as in the content. As a result, reading a translation has some limitations for the reader, and I would love to read this gem in Japanese. This is one of the best books I have ever read. The only English author I can compare it to is Pynchon, especially Gravity's Rainbow. The book is much, much better than Gravity's Rainbow, even in translation. The book ultimatley is a love story, and one that is life-affirming despite the protagonist's, and the reader's, fascinating and painful journey though the pages of the book.
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Summary: Wild, gripping, a twist in the space we call the mind...
Review: When I was 12, Madeleine L'Engle's fantasy, "A Wrinkle in Time," effected me in a way no other book did - bridging the gap between childhood stories and grown-up novels. Like "A Wrinkle in Time" the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a fantastic tale in which a certain amount of the story occurs in places that are not of this world. We are given to suspect that some of these places might be in the protagonist's mind, or, they might not be. Set in Tokyo, this is the story of a young married man named Toru Okada whose cat and wife both disappear (under different circumstances). The reader follows Toru as he searches for them both (as well as his search for "self"), and in the process encounters oddly "re"named mystics, an endearing if somewhat depressed teenage neighbor girl, an old war veteran with horrible memories from Japan's engagements in Manchuria, and a megalomaniacal brother-in-law (by far the scariest character in anything I've read in a long time). The tale gripped me and was a great read. Murakami does fantastic things with both the physical and psychological details and has a way of drawing in the reader to feel (s)he is in Toru's head.
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Summary: Contemporary literature at it's finest
Review: Haruki Murakami writes an excellent book. Often his plots are cleverly twisted, incorporating allegory, social-commentary and political satire: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is no exception to the rule. This convoluted, Kafkaesque epic is perhaps one of the best novels Murakami has ever written. It is a metaphysical portrait of a man searching for identity in a time of social and political crisis: war, sexuality, an election, a man-skinner and a missing cat are the fiery ingredients that make this book so intriguing. Ultimately, Murakami offers a truly unique experience that challenges the reader both intellectually and emotionally: it's a one of a kind novel. The plot revolves around the humble Toru Okada, a mild-mannered man whose wife is becoming more distant from him every day. The book opens when he receives an explicit phone call from a woman that seems to know a lot about him... also, his cat has disappeared. These two events (especially the phone call) act as catalysts for Toru to embark on a spiritual, metaphysical journey of self-discovery (I'll concede that that sounds a little cliched) that finds him in the middle of a dangerous political situation. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle is an exciting, challenging novel that keeps the reader in suspense right to the very end. Murakami writes extremely fluently and his words translate to English seamlessly with the help of translator Jay Rubin. His writing is subtly humorous, allegorical, yet uncomplicated. It is the culmination of his many literary devices that makes The Wind Up Bird Chronicle such a masterwork. Ultimately, this is a novel that delivers a rollicking story and a challenging text: quite a rare find these days, in the almost infinite supply of novels that makes finding a truly excellent book so hard to locate. Brilliant work Mr. Murakami. (For further Murakami DEFINITELY read "A Wild Sheep Chase" as well as "Norwegian Wood")
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Summary: A Philosophical Journey
Review: Toru Okada has no plans. He's quit his job, and he's just taking some time to consider his next move. *Something* has plans for Okada, though. His life is wheeling around him uncontrollably. First, his cat disappears, then his wife. And a collection of odd women begin to parade through his life, each "packaged with her own special, inscrutable problem." Murakami's simple yet sensual and elegant writing makes this mind-bending tale incredibly intriguing reading.
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Summary: ORIGINAL AND BIZARRE
Review: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle begins with a pot of spaghetti about to boil over as the voluntarily out of work protagonist, Toru Okada parries an anonymous obscene phone call just in time to receive a call from his wife, Kumiko, who orders him to begin a search for the couple's missing cat, Noboru Watanabe, named for her politically important brother. If the above sounds pretty breathless and confusing, you'll be surprised to learn there's a lot, lot more. The lost Noboru Watanabe is simply the device Murakami uses to set this densely-layered, often bizarre book in motion. Toru's search for the lost cat introduces him to the novel's other characters, who move in and out of his life and lead him into an ever-enlarging labyrinth. There is the Lolita-like May Kasahara, Toru's neighbor, who regards the thirty year old Toru as "interesting" and calls him Mr. Wind-Up Bird. Even more bizarre, are the two sisters and psychics, Malta and Creta Kano, who invade Toru's dreams as well as his reality. (After having psychic sex with Toru, Creta later appears naked in his bed, and, as to how she got there, she doesn't have a clue.) In the meantime, Toru's wife, Kumiko disappears, much to the delight of her politician brother, who detests Toru and vice versa. And, by the way, the politician brother just happened to have raped Creta! When Toru learns Kumiko has left him for a man who's better in bed, he's surprisingly surprised, although he shouldn't be and neither should we; signs of her adultery have been rampant. With nothing else to do about the matter, Toru lowers himself to the bottom of an empty well, the better to meditate on his unpredictable predicament. But May takes the ladder away and three days later, after Creta has rescued him, Toru emerges with a blue mark on his face, one that gives him special healing powers. At this point things really become confused. Toru's mark of healing is recognized by Nutmeg Akasako as being similar to the one her father bore. Lt. Mamiya has also entered the story, recounting a fantastic tale of wartime espionage that just happens to involve time spent at the bottom of a well! Much in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle develops around the elements of chance, destiny and responsibility. Characters drift in and out of Toru's life, yet each pulls him into his or her own world. Some may think this novel tends to digress a bit too much, but that's all a part of Murakami's trademark, for he's well-known to prefer freefalling through his work rather than planning it out carefully. The result, however, is a cumulative effect of bizarre happenings and black comedy, with Toru being the integral link. Although a recurring theme in Murakami's oeuvre is that of childishness, Toru is, at times, both childish in his innocence and cynical in his outlook regarding his fellow man. Toru is a protagonist who sees, hears, feels and reacts, rather than does. He attracts a large assortment of unusual characters rather than actively pursuing them. Murakami's prose has a distinctive "Western" feel and, although his characters are Japanese people, living in Japan, they could be anyone, anywhere. Those looking for the more traditional Japanese novel should look to other authors instead, most notably Yukio Mishima and Osamu Dazai. Surreal and sprawling, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a detective story, a history lesson and a satire. It is a big book that unites Murakami's signature themes of alienation, dislocation and nameless fears in the voice of Toru, aka, "Everyman." It's an enormous accomplishment that, believe it or not, all starts with a pot of spaghetti and one lost cat.
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Summary: Surreal Journey into Modern Japan
Review: The disappearance of a cat signifies the end of unemployed Toru Okada's easily explainable life. His wife leaves him, and soon he finds himself in the company of some very strange and psychic women and a disaffected teenager. Inexplicable happenings at first baffle Okada, but soon he takes them all in stride for lack of anything else else to do. Murakami has created a complex dream world of a global Japan, where the past horrors of the war mingle with coffee from Dunkin Donuts. This book is reminded me somewhat of Heller's Catch-22; it fuses grim reality with the ridiculous and the impossible, imparting its wisdom through laughter and an unbelieving shake of the head. Even though Murakami's literary gymnastics stumble near the end, the show is well worth a less than perfect landing.
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Summary: Surreal and unusually addictive to read
Review: This book was one of the weirdest and finest books I have read. The experiences were a surreal convoluted epic that I wish hadn't ended. The story starts off simply enough about Mr. Okada losing his cat, then his wife, and then finally his own mind. In a bizarre fashion all of the odd characters and situations that Okada finds himself in are all related in some way which is eventually summed together at the end. What was most fascinating is the elements of Buddhism, the search for nothingness to really get in touch with one's consciousness. Okada finds the strength and ability to achieve 'emptiness' at the bottom of a dark well. In the well, the author puts us in touch with the most bizarre adventures in Okada's consciousness. This is the first time I have read a book by a Japanese author. Just as each culture has their own unique style of writing (the Russians with their incredibly complex characters) this Japanese author had a wonderful surreal simplicity to the writing that made you want to never put the book down. I highly recommend the book - it is incredibly easy to read, but so complex in thought. I have every intention of reading more of Murakami!
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Summary: This masterpiece is Murakami's Ulysses
Review: Wow. Even if you've read everything Murakami ever wrote, you can't pass on this one because it is at once everything in his past books as well a a totally new experience. Though the book may seem intimating, Murakami's genius lies in his accessiblity and universal themes despite the Joycean range of motifs, writing styles and avantguard literary techniques. I think a fair parallel can be made to Joyce's work on many different levels. Much the way Ulysses brought together many earlier details from Portrait of an Artist, Stephen Hero, Exiles and The Dead, so too does Murakami pull all the threads together from earlier works. I read this book in one LONG sitting because I was totally riveted. It's the kind of book that makes you want to go back and reread all his earlier works to shed light on those as well. If I'm not mistaken, the early short story collection The Elephant Vanishes provides the opening for Wind-Up. Don't miss this -- he will become your favorite author!
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Summary: This why God gave us eyes....
Review: This is the book you should read. That everyone should read. This book...oh...this book...wow...this book. Really. You should not hesitate for a moment and get up and go buy it. Rarely has an epic tale been so enjoyable and compulsively readable; the POV jump cuts and swings around, jumping time and place and narration. When I bought this, I had no idea who Haruki Murakami was and why I should care. Immediately afterwards, I bought every book of his and borrowed the ones not yet available in this country. He is one of the finest writers working today and if you don't support him, then you are against him, and if you are against him, you are against everything good literature and good art stands for.
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Summary: an epic surreal journey through the mind of Mr Wind Up Bird
Review: It's impossible for art to replicate "reality"- reality is too bizarre, too horrible, too chaotic and meaningless to contemplate, especially if we consider the 20th century. MY reality, where my dreams seem more real than the ordinary day (the ordinary day of the sunlight on the grass, the distant sound of a car,one's son leaving the toilet seat up, the smell of burning toast wafting in from a neighbour's house),whereas MY reality is vivid and repetitious, sometimes scarey, sometimes joyous, and always lurking just beneath the surface. In other words, I would believe, quite normal. The first person character in Mr Murakami's book, Mr Okada, through whose eyes we witness his epic journey which begins with his search for his missing cat, has some surreal experiences with a faceless man, down a well, with a baseball bat, in the dark, in the light, in the heat, as a listener to some horrible and vicious war experiences, as the subject of some explicit and detailed sexual experience, he seems almost a Don Quixote or Woody Allen type character, lost in a maelstrom of events, more acted upon than acting. Mr Murakami makes the ordinary extraordinary, or juxtaposes the ordinary with another ordinary but different event making a surreal situation of it. I didn't find the jumping from one thing to another thing a problem. I found his prose exciting, and funny, and possessing a delighful clarity. I still find the opening a laugh, but I can't explain why: " When the phone rang I was in the kitchen, boiling a potful of spaghetti and whistling along with an FM broadcast of the overture to Rossini's THE THIEVING MAGPIE, which has to be the perfect music for cooking pasta." Maybe it's because everything SEEMS so right, the reader knows that that phone call is going to bring some sort of problem. And it does. Over 600 pages, it is a novel that explores at the one time the history of modern Japan, and the experiences of one modern man in it, where fear can quickly follow laughter, where life seems both a puzzle and a fascinating and exciting journey.
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