The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle in Reading the Chunksters

Jul 01, 2014 Hugh rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, translations, modern-classics, read-2006-09

Murakami is like nobody else, but very difficult to summarise in a few lines. Suffice to say that this book, like many of his others, is surreal, magical and hugely enjoyable.

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Nov 29, 2018 Nich rated it it was amazing

Overall, I reallly enjoyed this book and recommend it but there are three things that bugged me about it. I’m not writing about what I loved about it, because other people have already stated that well. I’m writing about what frustrated me so I feel better.
Before reading this I read a review of Tolstoy or Dickens that said modern writers have no excuse for writing too much. This was a good story, a good idea, and pretty darn good writing too (even though there were a errors in my translation whi Overall, I reallly enjoyed this book and recommend it but there are three things that bugged me about it. I’m not writing about what I loved about it, because other people have already stated that well. I’m writing about what frustrated me so I feel better.
Before reading this I read a review of Tolstoy or Dickens that said modern writers have no excuse for writing too much. This was a good story, a good idea, and pretty darn good writing too (even though there were a errors in my translation which was odd). But around page 360 when there were about 10 new characters introduced through nutmeg and 10 NEW random backstories, that did not really advance the plot at all, I was certain that here were about 100 to 200 pages that should have been ripped out by an editor. I’m used to reading long books without questioning the author but it’s okay to recognize that a book, even a good one, has unnecessary pages in it.
I also read a review that said when you read a really long book, you expect the author to put a proportional amount of work and effort into finishing it off with a great ending. An overly long book must be justified by an overly mesmerizing ending. I think all in all, Murakami gave more in the ending than I expected, especially considering the open-ended nature of the story and eastern tendencies of just killing all main characters off in the final scene. But still, this book was long. SPOILER
SPOILER There was a lot I was looking forward to as I pushed through the 300s and 400s. I looked forward to Mr Okada finally getting to relax and be happy with his wife. That was the main thing I wanted. It’s so easy to feel so exhausted and frustrated for him throughout the book. I wanted to be able to exhale and see that he had everything work out for him in the end. That would have been explanation enough for all of the weird things and unanswered sub-plots. But I didn’t quite get that. The cat coming back was a short breath of fresh air that I was very happy for. But I couldn’t help being annoyed that we missed out on getting to see Kumiko. I mean, we read through 600+ pages of anxiety over this damn woman, we should at least get to have a seat for the final reveal, if we want one!!!!!
Finally, it was difficult to not be annoyed by the author/narrator pointing out his own metaphors. Look, I know I’m not smart enough to follow all this stuff or think up most of it. But come on. I notice you have a theme going with water, you don’t have to TELL me how strange it is that water keeps coming up in this story! I promise, I caught on about half way through!

2021
I have since read 3 other Murakami novels and am obsessed. I don’t know what I was so angst about when I wrote this review, but I love this book, and I am so happy I read it. I also had two fun stories of my own come out of this. The first, the reason I decided to read the book after discovering it in a bookstore in Bratislava, in the designated “English language novels” section, was that when I finally opened it to read a few pages in the beginning, on a day I was particularly sad and discouraged about possibly never finding a job after law school, I saw Mr. Okada in his house, thinking to himself “it’s so hard to find a job as a lawyer right now.” And I stopped. This was a weird coincidence to me and so exciting that I bought the book and read and read and finished it as I sat on the steps of an overcrowded train through the states mountains.
I didn’t know anything about Murakami at that time, but I started proselytizing him to everyone I thought would listen, and in fact got Teo if my sisters to listen to the audio hook version, which they didn’t end up enjoying and were a little appalled by, but I didn’t give up and got my best friend hooked after he watched “Burning” and decided to give Murakami a try. He was reading the section on Okada being told to “be ware - water” when his washing machine broke and flooded his apartment. It was another coincidence! It just made a great book all the more fun. I’m a huge fan. I’ll always have good things to say about this book. ...more

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Jul 10, 2020 Jess Penhallow rated it it was ok

Shelves: libby, 1990s, japan, boxall-s

Why do I keep reading magical realism? I keep being drawn in by what sounds like an interesting premise and then BAM I'm hit by beautiful but vague stories that are style over substance.

This book is far too long. I'm not scared of long books, I love long books. But this is not the type of book that needs to be the length that it is. Long books are for sprawling fantasy worlds and complex historical fiction. Instead, I am treated to pages and pages of surreal situations with vague and boring cha ...more

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Jun 07, 2017 Alana rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: foreign-culture, boxall-s-1001-books, magic-realism

Well, it was interesting. I genuinely enjoyed reading it. The characters were interesting, Murakami creates some very suspenseful stories and scenes (including in his subplots), and the writing style was gripping and just continued moving. However, it is definitely NOT for everyone. Both of my parents would hate it, although for different reasons. Too much gratuitous sex (and written in an awkward manner that stereotypically says that a man wrote them) and a lot of loose ends that not only aren' ...more

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Jun 12, 2014 Tanya Booklovinghippo rated it liked it

This was a very strange book... One person said it was a book that said a lot but also said nothing at all, and I absolutely have to agree with them. I'm glad I read this book... I think I will probably re-read it in the future. It definitely wasn't one of my favorite books ever, but I did like it. ...more

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