The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel by Haruki Murakami Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel
Book Review: Undoubtedly one of the best books I have ever read!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is definitely an improvement on Kafka on the Shore, a rather disappointing and flat story. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle deserves unending praise, both for its captivating storyline and creativity.
After Toru Okada's wife goes missing, he is guided unknowingly by the stories of many colourful and eccentric characters, not least the quirky clairvoyant sisters Creta and Malta Kano (named after the islands) with her red vinyl hat. Each tale told creates its own little world within the great tapestry that makes up this novel.
Increasingly surreal, the novel builds to an exciting climax in the dark and other-wordly psycological environment of Room 208, where the resolutions to secrets which plague throughout the book are finally hinted at!
I loved the atmosphere this book created, and delighted in the lingering mystery which kept it in my mind for so long after finishing it. Despite what other reviewers said, I found the conclusion satisfying, with just the right balance of explanation and ambiguity to keep my brain happy. If anything, the way things might work out was made just a little bit too clear, but that is for you to decide for yourself.
Summed up in one sentence? A very moving and thought-provoking book not to be missed!
Book Review: Fantastic!
Summary: 5 Stars
Murakami is always tantalising with his writing, sometimes shocking, spell-binding, and occasionally slightly disappointing. This book, however, is perfect - or as perfect as you could expect a book to be. Whereas a lot of the other-worldliness in his other books is seen through the eyes of a peripheral chacter (so is only alluded to), this is the book where he takes us with him; where Murakami decided to explore the other side, and allowed us to see the results. And, frankly, the results are astounding. May Kasahara rivals Midori for charm and humanity and that frequently naughty spark that I loved in Norwegian Wood's heroine, and "Mr Wind-up Bird" makes for a complex, sympathetic main character - to me, he is Josef K with a soul, and, consequently, a chance. This was the first Murakami book I read - I have yet to match it, I feel, even though I loved many others. But I have to say, this book rates in my top three all time favourites.Book Review: every man and no man
Summary: 4 Stars
By any standards this is an extraordinary book: beautifully written and, by extension, translated, that records, as the title suggests, a man's search for his wife who, mysteriously, absconds from his house and his life with no apparent prior warning. Along the way we are treated to an account of another man's experiences fighting for the Japanese army against the Mongols, Chinese and Russians in Manchuria before and during the Second World War and introduced to an increasingly bizarre range of characters that progressively enhance the dream-like quality of the narrative: so much so that, ultimately, the reader begins to ponder the nature of reality, time and space. However, if this was the author's intention it is only partly successful. True, the writing is magical but the frequent `punctuations' disrupt the flow of the narrative to such an extent that it becomes easy, in the end, almost to lose interest in the protagonist's quest for his missing spouse and, consequently, any curiosity as to her eventual fate. And yet, Murukami still manages to enmesh the reader in a web from which he or she cannot become extricated until the final page: Okada, the bereft husband is everyman and no man, he is apparently insignificant yet curiously sought out and sought after; of little importance in the lives of his acquaintances yet seemingly pivotal to all the events that gradually unfold. Perhaps it is the very ambivalence inherent in the character of Okada that provides a clue to understanding the strange allure of the book. Or perhaps it is simply its ability to stay in the consciousness of the reader long after its apparent end.Book Review: The most highly-regarded and critically acclaimed Murakami novel
Summary: 4 Stars
Not the easiest one to read, however! The fractured narratives often frustrate. A woman goes mysteriously missing and the protagonist - typically open-minded and out of work - tries to track her down. But this is really just a device conducive to a rollercoaster ride in which one surreal and bizaare encounter follows another.Book Review: The Convoluted Chronicle
Summary: 2 Stars
Hmmm...I read an interview with a famous writer once, i can't remember his name, but he said that in order to succeed all art has to provoke some kind of reaction. It can of course be good or bad. This is one thing that Murakami has achieved with this novel.
The first third of the book I found to be quite enjoyable and unique; Murakami was throwing in so many characters and so many pivotal scenes and events that I was intrigued to see how he would tie everything up. And he did this by using an oft-ignored narrative technique: completely ignoring them.
The last two sections of this book dematerialize into random and generally unconnected events. About 400 pages of random and generally unconnected events. When reading you get the impression that Murakami woke up early each morning and wrote whatever popped into his head, leaving things behind when he got bored of them. If this were a 'normal' novel of course this would be criticised, but here it is heralded as 'genius' and 'dreamlike'.
This is easily the most self indulgent and self serving book I have ever read. It reads like Murakami's love letter to himself, a random collection of overly long short stories lumped together in one 'Chronicle'. By the end of the book I felt pretty frustrated and cheated that I had wasted my time and money. But at least it provoked a reaction.