The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Mar 08, 2009 Sana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Since it was taking me so long to read this book, I was sure I'd not like it by the end. But surprise, surprise... I loved it! I picked up this book at the time when I was (and still am) having a hard time getting through Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Then I thought maybe it wasn't such a good idea as both these books deal with magical realism, but I found Murakami's narration more absorbing and then there's the fact that there's so much more dialogue in this one!

This is one exception Since it was taking me so long to read this book, I was sure I'd not like it by the end. But surprise, surprise... I loved it! I picked up this book at the time when I was (and still am) having a hard time getting through Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Then I thought maybe it wasn't such a good idea as both these books deal with magical realism, but I found Murakami's narration more absorbing and then there's the fact that there's so much more dialogue in this one!

This is one exceptionally well-written novel. At first, I found it difficult to get into because I was continually trying to make sense of the bizarre happenings and trying to figure out where the story was headed. Of course, this is no way to enjoy fiction and as suggested in some Goodreads reviews, I let myself go with the flow and I enjoyed it more since then.

The story vacillates between reality and the subconscious, with the divide between them all but disappearing as you get further into it. It has a very likeable protagonist, some very whacky characters, a few graphically violent descriptions, and the presence of the mysterious and ominous wind-up bird. And most importantly, it has an ending that doesn't patch up all the illogical incidents into one intelligible whole, but instead leaves it to the reader to draw her/his own conclusions.

Murakami's writing is brilliant; it keeps you involved with the story even during the slower parts, like the detailed bits on Japan's war history. The prose is not difficult to follow, but I still found myself re-reading his words to get what he was trying to convey. He begins the story with the characters placed in an ordinary setting, that doesn't last long though. Slowly and steadily the story slips in and out of reality and takes on a dream-like quality. This is a world where dreams and reality are not two completely different entities. They blend into each other with such deceit as to confuse the protagonist as well as the reader.

And not to forget the "cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl", May Kasahara. Her conversations with Okada and her letters to him later, made for some engaging reading.

I'm glad I discovered Murakami and hope to enjoy Kafka on the Shore by him as well. ...more

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