Book Review: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Winding Up for the Pitch…of What?
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle is the surreal tale of Toru Okada, an unemployed man hunting for a missing cat. Over the course of his search, Toru encounters all manner of supernatural and spiritual phenomenon, a host of fascinating characters and discovers very much more than the absconding feline.
This is a story about moving from a position of numbness to a position of feeling. At the outset, Toru is completely devoid of passion. He is not worried or excited by this limbo in his career, he doesn’t notice his wife’s increasing absences and whenever anyone wants to see him, he has no plans. His central mission over the course of the novel is not to discover some profound intellectual truth or even a factual explanation of events, but merely to get in touch with how he feels, whether this might be drawn out of him by the stories and behaviors of other people or whether he might go down a well and deprive himself of sustenance and stimulation until that monster, otherwise known as emotion, finally emerges.
The style this is written in is pretty incredible; mastering the art of being at once verbose and minimalist. At first thought, the reader could find it irritating to read the same thing over and over. The author insisted on rephrasing and the repeating the same statement or sentiment three times, but after a while it can be decided that this was part of its genius. It becomes quite amusing and together with reassurances that there is no pretension here (the word weird is used more often than any other adjective), it is part of what allows Murakami to lead us seamlessly backwards and forwards between the real and the surreal, which many would consider a pretty impressive achievement.
And then there is the small issue of all female characters being succubi; they phone our protagonist to molest his ears, enter his dreams in order to force themselves upon him, they titillate and frustrate him before threatening his life
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle is the surreal tale of Toru Okada, an unemployed man hunting for a missing cat. Over the course of his search, Toru encounters all manner of supernatural and spiritual phenomenon, a host of fascinating characters and discovers very much more than the absconding feline.
This is a story about moving from a position of numbness to a position of feeling. At the outset, Toru is completely devoid of passion. He is not worried or excited by this limbo in his career, he doesn’t notice his wife’s increasing absences and whenever anyone wants to see him, he has no plans. His central mission over the course of the novel is not to discover some profound intellectual truth or even a factual explanation of events, but merely to get in touch with how he feels, whether this might be drawn out of him by the stories and behaviors of other people or whether he might go down a well and deprive himself of sustenance and stimulation until that monster, otherwise known as emotion, finally emerges.
The style this is written in is pretty incredible; mastering the art of being at once verbose and minimalist. At first thought, the reader could find it irritating to read the same thing over and over. The author insisted on rephrasing and the repeating the same statement or sentiment three times, but after a while it can be decided that this was part of its genius. It becomes quite amusing and together with reassurances that there is no pretension here (the word weird is used more often than any other adjective), it is part of what allows Murakami to lead us seamlessly backwards and forwards between the real and the surreal, which many would consider a pretty impressive achievement.
And then there is the small issue of all female characters being succubi; they phone our protagonist to molest his ears, enter his dreams in order to force themselves upon him, they titillate and frustrate him before threatening his life