A review by mmatti300
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was very good, and I am consistently blown away by the eloquence that can remain in translations. However, there are certain aspects of murakami that I am not sure I’ll ever be comfortable with. This novel wavered between being aggressively horrific, touching, charming, and utterly confusing. I found myself getting bored at parts, accidentally skipping whole paragraphs because I could not being myself to care. Yet in other parts, I was hooked constantly waiting for the next sucker punch of a line. While there is not the strange obsession with ejaculation common in some of his other works, there are elements in which “men writing women” shines through, particularly in discussing menstruation. I don’t know if I’ll be able to remember much of this book in 1 month but I am glad I picked this up and gave murakami another shot. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings