Book review: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Hakuri Murakami

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reading Wind-Up Bird Chronicle feels like Murakami is playing a staccato with emotions, ebbing and just stopping them before it falls.

Book just grips you vice-like and at some point takes you to that trascendental world, where you are unable to differentiate whether its a dream or reality.

The writing style of 1-2-3, 2-3-1, 3-1-2, keeps you on tenterhooks and you keep flitting pages. The novel makes you wish to into that deep well of emotions and clear up your head with all the thoughts which could pass the through.

This book is one of those to be re-read and understood differently many times over.

Of the story, what i believe Mr. Murakami has been able to dig in various aspects of relationships through its characters. Noboru Wataya (the Cat later renamed as Mackerel) to me at the end seems like the lost love between Toru Okada and Kumiko. Even when he thinks she has come back, she hasn't in full though he is unable to make the difference until Malta Kano shows her naked self.

People were flitting in and out of life of Mr. Wind Up and i could feel that it signifies how different people are important to us at different points of our lives. Childhood/ school/ college friends,your own family bua/ dadi/ chacha who are an integral part of your life at one point cease to be at other point of life. So you need to go to that deep well of emotions which has run dry and try to cross the wall to rekindle them and bring back the relationships to the fore. In the process, you might need to break few barriers (remember, the base ball bat), watch the skinning (of emotions hopefully).

There are so many women going in and out of protagonist's life and each of them have their own intricacies ranging from sex-on-telephone girl to Malta/ Creta Kano to Nutmeg and May Kashara. Giving a rethink on these names and you realize that all these are made-up names and only real women name seems to be of Kumiko.

Presence of Mr.Honda and Lieutenant Mamiya in the book reinforces that just listening to experience of these people gives you a deep perspective.

First and second part of book were fantastic and third one starts wavering at start but then holds back in the middle. Though most of the reader would have liked a definitive ending but a surreal book like this runs a risk of alienating many readers with a proper closure.

Recommend this book to all friends and foes.



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