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justinlife 's review for:
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
by Haruki Murakami
I don't know how to describe this book in order to do it justice. This book has left me thinking and, I totally believe, I will be thinking about this book for the next coming weeks.
When I originally started to read this book, I had to put it down about 120 pages in. I couldn't get past the meandering story. I picked it up two years later this time with a purpose to finish it.
At the time, i wasn't prepared for the style of this story. This story meanders quite a bit, but if you read this and are not prepared for that, it becomes tedious.
The story was interesting nonetheless. The Narrator reminded me a lot of Pip from Great Expectations. Even though he is the narrator and you know almost every thought he has, he seems devoid of personality. I never felt like I knew him. The menagerie of supporting characters were fascinating enough to catch my interest, though. These characters were people I could never picture in the real world, but could clearly see them there. It was kind of cool to read. On that note, I love how Murakami weaves the supernatural with the natural. Everything that occurs in the book seems so normal that I didn't question it. That being said, I am a fan of magical realism and this does fit into that category almost perfectly.
This book did not read as easily as the others of his that I've read (Dance, Dance, Dance and Kafka on the Shore). Both of those books I would recommend for a Murakami novice. Even though The Wind-up Bird Chronicle is considered by many critics to be his best book, I don't find it the most welcoming. It took effort for me to want to finish it while the other two were pure joy to read.
I will say, though, that about halfway through the book, the effort was gone and I wanted to know more. I needed to know more. A lot of the other reviewers have said this book is compelling and I have to agree. I felt compelled to read it.
I gave it five stars because I feel that reading this book was a unique experience that I haven't had before. I never had a "feel" of a book invade my dreams (meaning that the dreams were more in the style of Murakami, than my own), nor have I read such beautiful prose. The problem was that it also lacked interest in some parts. I remained intrigued by this book even after I finished it.
When I originally started to read this book, I had to put it down about 120 pages in. I couldn't get past the meandering story. I picked it up two years later this time with a purpose to finish it.
At the time, i wasn't prepared for the style of this story. This story meanders quite a bit, but if you read this and are not prepared for that, it becomes tedious.
The story was interesting nonetheless. The Narrator reminded me a lot of Pip from Great Expectations. Even though he is the narrator and you know almost every thought he has, he seems devoid of personality. I never felt like I knew him. The menagerie of supporting characters were fascinating enough to catch my interest, though. These characters were people I could never picture in the real world, but could clearly see them there. It was kind of cool to read. On that note, I love how Murakami weaves the supernatural with the natural. Everything that occurs in the book seems so normal that I didn't question it. That being said, I am a fan of magical realism and this does fit into that category almost perfectly.
This book did not read as easily as the others of his that I've read (Dance, Dance, Dance and Kafka on the Shore). Both of those books I would recommend for a Murakami novice. Even though The Wind-up Bird Chronicle is considered by many critics to be his best book, I don't find it the most welcoming. It took effort for me to want to finish it while the other two were pure joy to read.
I will say, though, that about halfway through the book, the effort was gone and I wanted to know more. I needed to know more. A lot of the other reviewers have said this book is compelling and I have to agree. I felt compelled to read it.
I gave it five stars because I feel that reading this book was a unique experience that I haven't had before. I never had a "feel" of a book invade my dreams (meaning that the dreams were more in the style of Murakami, than my own), nor have I read such beautiful prose. The problem was that it also lacked interest in some parts. I remained intrigued by this book even after I finished it.