loppear reviewed The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Review of 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle' on Goodreads
4 stars
Enjoyed this inexplicably... I think there's something about his magic that is just right for this world.
hardcover, 609 pages
English language
Published Aug. 6, 2010 by Harvill Secker.
Toru Okada's cat has disappeared and this has unsettled his wife, who is herself growing more distant every day. Then there are the increasingly explicit telephone calls he has started receiving. As this compelling story unfolds, the tidy suburban realities of Okada's vague and blameless life, spent cooking, reading, listening to jazz and opera and drinking beer at the kitchen table, are turned inside out, and he embarks on a bizarre journey, guided (however obscurely) by a succession of characters, each with a tale to tell. --front flap
Enjoyed this inexplicably... I think there's something about his magic that is just right for this world.
This was an experience unlike any other. Murakami writes hypnotically, describing an average experience so well that you become lulled into its reality. Then things get strange and you're so steeped in the book that you feel the bizarre world envelope you. It's powerful storytelling.
There were times when one of many subplots would get really involved and it was hard to see how it was relevant. In the end, all things come together.
I'll definitely be reading more of Murakami's work.
I'm really feeling conflicted about my rating. In some ways I kind of hated this book, but in other ways I thought it was good. The main problem was all the little side stories and vignettes felt very separate from the main story, almost like Murakami had a bunch of short stories and he kind of built a novel out of them. (Similar to how I felt about Cloud Atlas). Somehow the separate vignettes never did meld; they felt superfluous, like the main plot didn't really gain much from the telling of some of these stories. At the same time, some of those superfluous stories, especially the war stories, were the ones that were the most interesting to me, perhaps because they felt the most "real" as I'm not big on the whole "magical realism" thing to begin with. This book isn't the usual type of book I like to …
I'm really feeling conflicted about my rating. In some ways I kind of hated this book, but in other ways I thought it was good. The main problem was all the little side stories and vignettes felt very separate from the main story, almost like Murakami had a bunch of short stories and he kind of built a novel out of them. (Similar to how I felt about Cloud Atlas). Somehow the separate vignettes never did meld; they felt superfluous, like the main plot didn't really gain much from the telling of some of these stories. At the same time, some of those superfluous stories, especially the war stories, were the ones that were the most interesting to me, perhaps because they felt the most "real" as I'm not big on the whole "magical realism" thing to begin with. This book isn't the usual type of book I like to read but I thought I'd expand my horizons and give it a chance based on the excellent reviews most people give it. That said, I was intrigued by Murakami's ideas about reality, dreams, fantasy, the thin veil separating what we consider reality from what we consider "other", how dreams can bleed into the day and alter and change things in subtle and not so subtle ways. I also liked the idea that events from the past reverberate through time, leaving a permanent scar that can taint the countenance of the present. I wasn't too hotsy on the hodgepodge way the book dealt with the characters, how some of the stories were never resolved or some of the characters just sort of disappeared.
I'll have to let this one settle for a while.
Lots of texture. Many great characters. The story is confusing--like watching a dream inside a nightmare inside a metaphor...
It's possible that this book was merely over-hyped to me by friends and was thus bound to disappoint. Either way, my overall impression was of a narrative with amazing build-up and either entirely absent or else completely indecipherable release.
I was enjoying this book until I got to the horribly gruesome scene that I wish I had never read. I am angry at this author for putting those pictures in my head and angry at the friend who gave me this book as a gift. Yes, it is "good," but I really don't need more images of human suffering floating around in my mind, I've got enough, thanks.