Reviews

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

judes_wife's review against another edition

1.0

good god this book was terrible. firstly, murakami has a horrible tendency to ramble for way too many pages, making every chapter a struggle to get through. my main gripe is the way he writes women though. every single female character is portrayed in some kind of a sexual way to the point where i’m concerned about the author because women are not sexual objects??? the main character has these weird unnerving sex dreams with people he just met and it’s just so icky also there’s a disgusting scene of someone being skinned alive which was actually traumatizing pls don’t read this it tries soo hard to be deep but it just isn’t. there are so many good magical realism books and this isn’t one of them.

softmellow's review against another edition

3.0

The mental gymnastics I had to do to put it all together

king_ink's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

rileedawg's review against another edition

challenging reflective 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

eapreske's review against another edition

mysterious

3.0

moira_desu's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

suburbea's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

jess_mango's review against another edition

5.0

I had been looking forward to reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle ever since a former book club member recommended it to me in around 2001. It didn't disappoint. I have read several other of Murakami's works and he is definitely one of my favorite authors. I love the trippy, magical, and quirky quality to his writing.

Extra kudos since the book mentioned one of my favorite things: watching ducks walk on ice--- hours of entertainment!

lindsayaunderwood's review against another edition

3.0

This book was interesting. Definitely "literature." I enjoyed the process of reading it - it was very well written and I enjoyed the characters, but there were a lot of unanswered questions at the end and I have very little closure. I liked the surreal/ dream element of the book, but at the same time there were huge chunks where I had no idea what was happening.

emeraldzak's review against another edition

Reads like incel fiction with a strange outlook on every woman so far - sexualized and/or stiff and inhuman. The male gaze is in full force here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Trafficking