Reviews - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

5.7k reviews for:

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Haruki Murakami

4.03 AVERAGE

ellequirke's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

patricksain's review against another edition

3.25

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

drewc34's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

honeybunnysweetlemonjelly's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

mikayla_oliver1616's review against another edition

4.0

I finished this book a little over a week ago, so hopefully my thoughts will still be coherent enough to write this review. After having read a handful of Murakami's books, I think I'd put this one on the higher side of my scale of enjoyment. More than any of his other books I've read, I really appreciated the historical information about Japan's role in war interweaved into this novel, as I feel it made it stand out from anything I've read recently. I think the mix of history and surrealism work surprisingly well in this book, and was one of the things I really enjoyed about it.

This book follows a man who first is on a search for his missing cat. However, this search soon turns into much more as he finds himself searching for his wife, the fix for what suddenly appears to be a failing marriage, and his own identity. Along the course of his mission to bring his wife (and cat) back home to him, his life is turned upside down, as he finds himself acquainted with an ever-evolving group of eccentrics who push him to discover himself in a way he never had before.

I think this book is sort of a difficult book to talk about, simply because there's just so much to talk about. I think each of the characters in this novel could have their own separate novels that I would find entertaining in their own way, which, being a person who loves character-driven novels, I greatly appreciated. The stories told by the characters felt so real, and not only because they rooted in historical fact, but also because of how unique, detailed, and raw they seemed. Though the large cast of characters could be confusing, I feel that Murakami did a great job of giving each their own lasting impression, and importance in the story.

My favourite thing about this book though was the relationship between the main character and his wife. Even though we spend much of the novel with the narrator as he is searching for his missing wife, I found myself truly rooting for their relationship, something that has seemingly become more and more rare in the books I've read recently. I thought this book was a sort of surreal, yet beautiful tribute to the necessity of truly knowing and accepting yourself before being able to share your life with someone else.

I'm hoping this review isn't too jumbled, but what I really want to get across is: read this book. The more time passes since I've read it, the more fond I become of it. I think my only complaint would be that some of the historical/flashback sections seemed a little info-dumpy and made it a bit hard to get through, but I think it's 100% worth it in the end.

4.5 stars

ratherreadrandi's review against another edition

4.0

what the hell was that (complimentary)

jessica_rachel's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

A real thinker! Lots of symbolism that isn't immediately obvious. Fantastically written and the translation is beautiful, each and every word is exquisite. I realized I had been reading endless pages about a man sat at the bottom of a well and I still wasn't bored because of the joy of being wrapped in the prose.