The Wind Up Bird Chronicle~A Review

"I'm only sixteen," she said, "and I don't know much about the world, but I do know one thing for sure. If I'm pessimistic, then adults in this world who are not pessimistic are a bunch of idiots."

This was my first adventure reading Mr. Haruki Murakami's work. I had never heard of his work before, and picked the book out purely for fun. It turned out to be a story that was both common on one hand and otherworldly on the other.

The main character, Toru Okada starts his strange adventure looking for his cat. As requested by his wife, Kumiko. As the story evolves we find a slew of other supporting characters. These range from a war veteran to a very mysterious boy who doesn't speak. There is also a large role played by one of his neighbors, May Kashara.

There are many passages in this book that really play with your imagination and I found amazing to read. Some of these being the the emotion grabbing experience with the guitar player as well as the first trip down the well for Toru. Many of these more emotional passages are what kept me interested in this novel. One of my favorites, as I later understood it, was when Cinnamon lost his voice. This eerie and enthralling passage really should have been expanded upon in my opinion. The stories also woven by Malta Kano kept me plugged into the story. Even if the actual plot never carried me further into the character. What I enjoyed about this book the most was the humanness of the main characters feelings. Even though many of the situations are far from realistic the emotions surrounding them are well written and enjoyable.

This book also had some lower points in it. For me it was the conclusion of the actual plot. I felt like I had invested a good amount of time into learning about the characters. And really I wanted the author to build more on how the people Toru met changed his outlook of life. After reading so many pages of fleshing out these characters I was disappointed in such a simple ending. A very abrupt one at that! I won't give any spoilers here. But I wish this was the first of maybe two or three books. Also, as a warning there is graphic violence and some sexual content.

Overall I left this book feeling a little bit more human. It is a mostly quiet novel with very interesting storytelling. I hope you all try reading it! Thanks for reading my review.

Eating.Flowers