Reviews

Die Chroniken des Aufziehvogels by Haruki Murakami

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foundation's review against another edition

4.0

Quintessential Murakami. Weaving in and out of worlds in a dreamlike manner. It is gripping in the beginning but kind of falls flat later on. Good read but not his best imo.

misslonely85's review against another edition

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3.0

Haruki Murakami's surreal world had pleased me in the past, but this time, I found myself annoyed. I usually appreciate the writing of Murakami, which is poetic and mystical, but in this book, something didn't work for me. I thought about giving up several times, but in the end, I didn't. You know, when you are reading a book and that you think about all the parts you would have cut? Well, I spent my reading thinking about that.
Sometimes it was too much, that day-to-day life about shaving and cooking spaghetti and having erotic dreams. I read fast, but I'm not a patient person, far away from it. I don't mind if a book has eight hundred pages when it's interesting, but in The wind-up bird chronicle, almost nothing happened. Strangely, it reminded me of Virginia Woolf and her elliptic writing. Like Woolf, Murakami writes beautifully, but something is missing. I didn't feel that spark of fascination I felt for Murakami in his other novels. So why the hell did I keep reading until the end? Probably because this novel is a classic of the 1990s, praised by almost everybody.

jellybeanpie's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

lactomar's review against another edition

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3.0

Really wanted to get into Murakami after my first attempt at 1Q84 didn't work. I was able to finish this, and I enjoyed the ride. Nothing came together by the end, there was some connection, but by the end the journey didn't make much sense. It seemed like the feel of the book/writing gets lost in the translation, because I just never fully got into it. Glad I read it, probably wouldn't re-read.

silvia_shmilvia's review against another edition

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4.0

Idk about the end, it's not complete, from what I gathered online this is how he usually ends his stories. He lets the reader fill in the gaps.

The 3rd part of the book kinda lost me at parts, BUT the mongolian skinning, Boris, the well, the abys, the darkness, the crowd watching, Creta Kano's story....SO FRICKING GOOD.

I for sure missed a lot of stuff reading this book and I will come back with an update after I read it again.

All in all, took me a week to finish it, I could not put it down at times. Very good.

(Also...some weird Lolita-ish parts with Mai Kasahara, kinda sus)