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Title: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin ISBN: 0-679-77543-9 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: September, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Rating: 5
Summary: Surreal and unusually addictive to read
Comment: 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!
Rating: 5
Summary: what an imagination!
Comment: This was the first novel I read by the incomparable Murakami, a cult hero in Japan and increasingly in the West as well. Part hard-boiled mystery, part character study, and part sheer oddity, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a delight.
If you've never been to Japan, Murakami's stories may seem rather 'un-Japanese'. Although his novels are devoid of geishas and samurai, contemporary Japan bears more in common with a Murakami setting than a classic Kurasawa film. The intermixture of corporate conspiracy, odd fetishes, bizarre twists of events, and Western pop-culture captures much of the feel of urban Japan today, magnified and distorted in a circus mirror. The result is accessible, entertaining and wildly imaginative. It probably appeals more to the young-at-heart.
My favorite Murakami is the slightly less polished "Dance, Dance, Dance", followed by the strangely structured "Hard-Boiled Wonderland", written at a time when some critics tried to classify Murakami as 'cyberpunk', and "A Wild Sheep Chase", which really does involve a hunt for a missing sheep. "Norwegian Wood" and "Sputnik" are less characteristic of Murakami's style, but interesting as well. "Wind-Up Bird" is a great place to start.
Try it! Enjoy!
Rating: 5
Summary: I've certainly never read anything like this
Comment: A friend loaned me The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, and I read it knowing nothing more than was on the back cover. A man's cat disappeared, and then he meets interesting people. Talk about an understatement! I don't even know what genre I would classify this as if I tried to find it on a shelf somewhere.
Haruki Murakami appears to be a master of mood. Though his protagonist Toru Okada moves through what appears on the surface to be an ordinary world, we slowly realize that a veil of tension has dropped over the scenery, and as he searches for his cat he comes across a shadow world of sorts, where nothing quite appears as it ought. I'm trying to be clear here; this is not metaphorical. But I also don't want to give anything away.
In some ways Wind-up Bird ventures close to the genre of sci-fi or fantasy, but it is a very subtle fantasy. And unlike some of that genre, there is no final moment when everything is finally revealed. There is only what Murakami chooses to reveal, and only when he wishes it. Much remains a mystery at the end, but it is clear enough to the protagonist and to the reader to make some sense of what actually happened. Now I should confess that of the various storylines, I'm not at all sure how they all fit together. Perhaps that is the point. But the reader who expects every last thread to weave together into an unambiguous tapestry may be disappointed. I was not, though, and I suspect few are.
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Title: Norwegian Wood (Vintage International Original) by Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin ISBN: 0375704027 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 12 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International) by Haruki Murakami, Alfred Birnbaum ISBN: 0679743464 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: March, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami, Alfred Birnbaum ISBN: 037571894X Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 09 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Dance, Dance, Dance: A Novel by Haruki Murakami, Alfred Birnbaum ISBN: 0679753796 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: February, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami ISBN: 0679767398 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 14 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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