Reviews with content warning for War - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Damn. Damn, damn, damn. This is a phenomenal work of literature that I’m confident has the complexity and density to be looked back upon as a masterpiece. It is truly unlike very many books of its time: Murakami is a master of motif and theme, ensuring that his characters just barely think they know each other, and ensuring that each of those characters is completely imperceptible from one another. Only we, the reader, can bridge that divide. His unique brand of magical realism meshes with vivid settings and diverse characters that create this world that feels so real, in more ways than one.

This is a book about desires and the subconscious with a little bit of Imperial Japanese history thrown in as a wonderful way to ground the novel and really bring it home. It’s confusing at first but grows increasingly clear the more and more we learn about the plot. Toru Okada is not the most interesting protagonist in the world, but that’s the point: the things that happen to him are so extraordinary and strange that by the end of the novel, he’s grown so much and yet he’s almost exactly the same. He just… makes more sense.

Maybe we’re the ordinary ones and this book is pulling us away from what we think we know. That’s how I see it, anyway.

Definitely reading more Haruki Murakami.

Content Warnings

ruairim95's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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mirrorofneptune's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was a trip. We veer wildly back and forth between extremely dark and more lighthearted tones and subject matters. Everything is a metaphor but also literal. I’m still not convinced a plot actually existed but it sure was fun to read. Like other Murakami works, the majority of the characters talk in a way I’ve never heard any human being talk, but we just roll with it.

Violence is not the answer but also sometimes you gotta murder your brother.

Would recommend for people who wished Kafka on the Shore had More (of just everything).

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bella613's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This isn't my favorite of Murakami's novels. It features his classic young protagonist who loses both job and wife, and proceeds to do nothing much but make very strange friends (acquaintances?) who either tell him their life stories or come onto him very strongly. Somehow Murakami uses this same structure often and still makes completely new stories.

I love Murakami's writing style. He's both straightforward, and roundabout. Descriptively realistic and still wildly fantastical. But this novel didn't do as much for me as his others. I'm not exactly sure what it was (or wasn't) because the main character was definitely more likeable to me than the lead of Norwegian Wood. I liked the side stories, especially the war time ones, even if it was uncomfortable at times to read. I think the overall feeling of this book just vibed with me a little less.

Also- just a little warning if you haven't read it yet. It's not horror but there are rather graphic descriptions of gore and violence and it feels pretty horrific at times. All of Murakami's stuff is definitely adult rated but this one is a more specific-to-horror type feeling.
If you don't like dark reading this one isn't for you.

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