The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: Haruki Murakami

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But, I'll be damned if the missing cat isn't even the issue. From there things spiral outta control and all of a sudden I'm bouncing around from these old war stories to the bottom of a well to working with a girl and counting the number of bald men on the street to a bunch of other stuff that I don't want to spoil for you. About halfway through I'm thinking to myself, "Self, this plot doesn't matter. These characters are more metaphorical or something. This book is smarter than you. Here's another war story followed by a letter to read. You don't really understand this book at all, do you?" The difference between ``Wind-Up Bird'' and Murakami's earlier books is that this volume not only limns its hero's efforts to achieve self-understanding, but also aspires to examine Japan's burden of historical guilt and place I enjoyed the story, having only previously read Murakami’s book “Kafka on the shore” I thought this book was good but not as good as Kafka on the shore.

In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife's missing cat. Soon he finds himself looking for his wife as well in a netherworld that lies beneath the placid surface of Tokyo. As these searches intersect, Okada encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists: a psychic prostitute; a malevolent yet mediagenic politician; a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl; and an aging war veteran who has been permanently changed by the hideous things he witnessed during Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria. disappears, Toru's wife Kumiko vanishes as well, and he is forced to reassess the state of their marriage, even as he begins to try to find her.This is not The Folio Society’s first foray into the world of Murakami. Some of his most celebrated works have already been published for their catalogue, comprising ‘Kafka on the Shore’in 2021 and ‘Norwegian Wood’ in 2022. ‘The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle’ represents the third title in the range, adding perhaps the author’s most well-known and celebrated work. Stylistically, the three novels have been produced in similar ways, including retaining Columbian artist Daniel Liévano as the illustrator for all three. This approach ensures that the titles look aesthetically sublime on your bookcase. Alienation: Throughout the novel the characters are obviously related to each other but they never feel like they connect to one another. All of the characters develop independently and tend to live solitary lifestyles. This can be presented in Toru and Kumiko's marriage. Throughout the novel, Toru presents himself to be one who seeks solitude. One example is presented as he completes an everyday task, "I went to the Municipal pool for a swim. Mornings were the best, to avoid the crowds". [7] His desire for solitude also is shown when he quits his job to take care of the house alone while Kumiko goes to work. He enjoys being home alone. In the relationship between Kumiko and Toru, both characters seem to be developing in solitude. Both characters hide many of their thoughts from one another and even though they are married Toru ponders on the fact that he may not know much about his wife. [8] Newly out of work, Toru Okada is leading a peaceful life with his wife Kumiko when his carefully organized world starts to crumble bit by bit. His wife goes missing without a hint, the sociopathic brother-in-law he despises with a passion is emerging as a compelling figure in Japanese politics and he begins encountering queer characters one after the other, each of whom seem to be twisted individuals but guide him towards solving the mystery of his wife's sudden disappearance. And thus begins a most intriguing tale of Okada's journey through an intricate labyrinthine path stretching across time and space, the real and the surreal, where he goes through a set of bizarre but enlightening experiences.

Several characters experience this sense of there being something inside, a presence they’re usually unaware of, and when it reveals itself, it can destroy the life they’d been living up to that point. Toru eventually manages to find his own well, his own door to this other place, and it proves to be a dangerous experience, even if it’s all (literally) in his head. I have been a fan of Murakami for 20 years and this and Kafka are my favourites; and appear in my top 10 books of all time. Toru starts spending all of his time down in the well, which functions as a portal to the hotel in his dreams. He decides that the only way to resolve his situation with Kumiko is determine the identity of the mysterious woman from the hotel. Eventually, he decides that the woman must be Kumiko herself. Toru confronts the woman in his dream and tells her his theory. The woman momentarily changes her voice to sound like Kumiko, but then changes it again to sound like someone else, leaving it ambiguous as to whether Toru is correct. Then, a loud banging comes from the door again. The mysterious woman urges Toru to leave, but he refuses. A shadowy male figure enters the room and begins fighting with Toru. Toru kills the man and then escapes the room. When he wakes up, he is in a well full of water, which Nutmeg helps him out of. Nutmeg tells Noboru that is in critical condition after suddenly collapsing in the street. Toru wonders if the actions that took place in his dreams resulted in Noboru’s sudden collapse. Following Toru’s latest trip down the well, the mark on his face disappears. Because of this, Nutmeg tells Toru that they can no longer work together. The following day, she leaves, and Toru never sees her again. Not long afterward, Toru receives another letter from Kumiko. Kumiko tells Toru that her first letter was a lie. She did not have sex with another man; she had sex with many other men. She does not know why she acted the way she did and is deeply ashamed of herself. She tells Toru that she thinks her problems stem from Noboru. Additionally, she says that she plans to go to Noboru’s hospital room, shut off his life support, and turn herself in to the police.However, where in later books ( 1Q84, for example) the sex can be laughable and gratuitous, here it’s never awkward or off-putting, but an integral part of the story. In fact, it evolves cleanly into the concept of prostituting oneself, both physically and mentally. There’s Creta Kano’s tale, of course, but the theme goes far beyond this, exploring how any situation where you sacrifice something, even the 9-to-5 grind, involves a similar betrayal of oneself. Toru himself has tried to avoid this, but over the course of his adventures, he unwitt

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a very breezy read, surprisingly so since it was translated from Japanese. It tells the story of Toru Okada's disintegrating life, from his quitting his job at the law firm, to the family cat, Noboru Wataya, named after his wife's brother, going missing, to his wife Kumiko disappearing one morning. From there, things get stranger by the minute. Toru gets entangled with a sort of psychic therapist, Malta Kano, and her sister Creta, as well as striking up an unusual friendship with the unusual girl next door, May Kasahara. And that's before the really weird things start happening.

Many regard The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle as Murakami's masterpiece, and it appeared in The Telegraph's 2014 list of the 10 all-time greatest Asian novels. [15] Adaptation [ edit ]

Not just because, even, you read books like this one, which are by definition weird, and about things like men living at the bottom of wells and intense hallucinations and toupees. Nearly 20 years after the first translation Ursula Gräfe translated the book from the Japanese original, including also the missing chapters. 'Die Chroniken des Aufziehvogels'. Or as Paul jokingly suggested, there might even be a musical in there somewhere. (For someone else, maybe even Murakami, to create.) But this is not the way to experience it. Unfortunately, the choice was made to have a narrator who insists on reading to us like we’re 4-year-olds sat on a carpet in the library corner. I’m almost surprised he didn’t bust out a guitar.In the meantime, Toru meets a series of curious people: May Kasahara, a troubled teen-ager who feels responsible for her boyfriend's death in a motorcycle accident; Malta Kano, a psychic who makes prophecies about Toru's missing cat; Malta's