The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel by Haruki Murakami Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.37 You Save: $6.58 (41%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.83 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel
Book Review: Slip into the parallel world of The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
Summary: 5 Stars
Possibly Japan's most famous novelist is Haruki Murakami, renowned for his perplexing plot lines, surreal environments and deep emotional journeys of the soul. This is what The Wind-up Bird Chronicle is all about.Thirty-something year old Tokyo-bound man, Toru Okada, has his fair share of bad luck in the story. He looses his job. The cat runs away from home. The disappearance of his wife, Kumiko, shortly ensues. His life then becomes unclear and dead-end. A series of strange events follows with a host of odd yet wonderful characters, the calling of the deserted "hanging house", the darkness of the waterless well and the mysterious influence of the "wind-up bird" which is never seen, yet always heard.
Mr. Murakami is a writer I greatly admire. The story still mystifies me. The story is surreal, sometimes deeply emotional and sometimes disturbingly violent. It is a sensual and thought-provoking read written almost like poetry, although it is perplexing and is not a tale that one can summarize in a few lines without mentioning the intense themes of lonliness, anger, love, loss and death told in accounts of the range of weird and wonderful characters that cross Toru's path, fulfilling some unknown purpose as they go.
If you are looking for a novel that is simple to read and understand, this book is not for you. For those who want something to be pensive about, a book that will send emotions all over the place with allegories and a feeling of deep philosophy on each page, this is a definite must-read!
Book Review: Slip into the parallel world of the Wind Up Bird
Summary: 5 Stars
From one of Japan's most famous authors, Haruki Murakami, the novelist of "Norwegian Wood" and "Sputnik Sweetheart", comes one of his more well known stories - "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle". For thirty-something Tokyo-bound man, Toru Okada, life couldn't get much worse. He leaves his job in law. The cat runs away from home. The disappearance of his wife Kumiko soon ensues. But life is about to get a whole lot worse...and a whole lot stranger. What is the significance of this bad luck? Why does the "hanging house" seem to be calling him? Has it all got something to do with the wind-up bird, that is always heard but never seen.
This novel takes the word "surrealism" to a whole new level! Never have i been so perplexed and confused by a book composed of tales of misfortune and journies of the soul, all fitting into one man's life. But neither have i been so intrigued by such mysterious book. Strangely enough, this is definitely one heck of a page turner, even though the story will throw most readers and the puzzle pieces of the "wind-up bird" tale will be uncomplete by the story's conclusion. The answers are there. You just have to look for them.
It's hard to describe the book in a few words - "surreal", "compelling" and "mystifying" spring to mind - but it goes much deeper... It is a tale of deep emotions of loneliness, love, loss, hatred and of dreams and visions, fulfilling some unknown purpose.
The book features many weird characters, but have their own unique charm, be they good or possibly evil. Murakami goes into great depth with these people, which i love.
Sharp as a hawk's eye, Murakami sets the story is crystal clear backdrops of the Tokyo streets, with endless roads and topless buildings. It seems so real. So vibrant.
Looking for a short book with simple charcters and plot, you are looking in the wrong place. If you prefer something very different that you can be pensive about and will send emotions skywards, pick up "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" now. You will be haunted forever...
Book Review: Textual Healing
Summary: 5 Stars
If you haven't read a Murakami book before, you need to know this; while you read them, his books will disrupt your life. You will go to bed earlier and stay awake later. You will have a yearning to spend your weekends on the sofa. Pretentious plot dissections from wannabe critics don't do his writing justice, it will suck you in and you will want more, regardless of what he writes about.If you have already read a book by this author, why do you need to read a review? Just but it, stupid.
Book Review: Murakami's best so far?
Summary: 4 Stars
My family started reading Murakami after my son went to live in Japan for a while. Murakami's books are intriguing and strange and this is probably the strangest of the lot. It's also possibly the most wide ranging. Although the hero as always seems to be at one remove from the reader, there is much to get to grips with. There is Murukami's strange obsession with real and unreal space, hidden wells in the ground and quite a lot about little known aspects of Japan's involvement in the war. It's impossible to precis - strange but superb - read it!Book Review: disappointing finish
Summary: 3 Stars
The writer's more recent book (Kafka on the shore) got very bad reviews, but each critic compared it to The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, which they claimed was a fascinating book. Therefore I was intrigued enough to try this. The story revolves around Toru Okada, a Japanese man who has recently quit his job and spends his time taking care of his home while his wife works. For now it is an ideal lifestyle, but it won't last long. First the cat disappears; then his wife, who grows more and more distant each day, puts him in contact with a psychic. The wife runs away, and Toru's life becomes odder and stranger as he meets many new people. It's well written and each new character is odd and fascinating, but the ending is just so pointless and understated, I didn't see the point of it all. There were a variety of different story threads, but they didn't really pull together properly, and the motivations of the "villain" were vague. The overall plot was ended, if somewhat unsatisfactorily. I really enjoyed the first two thirds of the book but it seemed to run out of steam and left too many unanswered questions of a fundamental nature. I don't need every loose end to be tied up but this was in my mind an unpolished conclusion.