Haruki Murakami | Book Chatter

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Book Three)
By Haruki Murakami
(Vintage, Paperback, 9780679775430, 1998, 624pp.)

This post shares my thoughts on book three. If you are reading along with me and have not finished book book three, save this post for later as it may contain spoilers.

In a nutshell, what takes place in book three?

Book three was pretty exciting. Toru is determined to find his wife Kumiko even though Kumiko’s powerful brother Noboru, advises Toru against it. In his heart, Toru believes that Kumiko did not leave by choice. He is so convinced of this, that he decides to purchase the abandoned property by his home known as the hanging house. The house is considered to be bad luck for anyone who lives there, but Toru doesn’t care because that is where the dried up well is and he needs more time in the well to figure out what is going on. Toru is unemployed with little in savings so the cost of purchasing such a property, no matter how undesirable it may be, proves to be too much for him. The money becomes available when he accepts a position as Nutmeg’s replacement in the “fitting” room.

The fitting room is where Toru meets with strange women to remove whatever is bothering them. After a small test of sorts, Nutmeg has the hanging house leveled and builds a compound in its place. This allows Toru to work as a fitting room consultant without the peering eyes of neighbors, and it allows him access to the well when he needs it. A lot of strange things happen in the well and compound. He visits the “other side” when he goes down in the well and he receives communication from Kumiko by way of online chatting. Some of the characters who played prominent roles in book two come back and there is a large chunk of the book dedicated to the Manchurian Incident.

Things happen and discoveries are made. It was quite a book and I was worried when I got down to the last 45 pages that I’d be left hanging, but I did feel there was a resolution of sorts. Not one with perfectly tied bows but I did feel satisfied with how it ended. I still have a lot of questions though.

Murakami has admitted in the past that he never knows how a story will end when he begins to write it. Based on interviews, this was particularly true with The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Do you feel that this technique added something to the story? Or do you feel that it had the opposite effect?

As I was reading, I enjoyed the “wild ride” and was often surprised at where Murakami’s mind took us. When I finished the book though, I spent an entire week trying to piece it together to make sense of what took place. It’s not an impossible story to piece together because in my mind. There are clues from the past that help you makes sense of the stuff going on, but there must have been about five possible outcomes and I don’t think any of them are wrong.

When I finished, I immediately wrote-up what I thought had happened and then shared it with a few others who I knew were done with the book and they came back with other possibilities that I had not considered. After spending a week trying to come-up with the one outcome that Murakami wanted us to take-away as readers, I’ve decided that since he didn’t know how it was going to end himself, that the outcomes mentioned are clearly up to us as readers.

I know this drives some people nuts because so many of you want a firm resolution to sit back on, but this is not the case with this book and I am 100% okay with it. I felt that it came together enough to give me the satisfaction I needed as a reader and the meandering nature of the plot, set my imagination on high. I’m not sure this meandering technique works with all of his books, but I do feel that it worked with this one.

What do YOU feel happened to Kumiko?

There are a lot of theories floating around about Kumiko’s disappearance and I’ll mention a couple that came to mind:

That she was always there, but transparent. I got the impression at one point that Kumiko’s self-worth was lost after she became a prostitute for her brother. Another blogger questioned this saying that she was never a prostitute but the reason why I thought this, was because of her mention of “many men” and we know Noboru’s history with Creta so I thought that this was how he was controlling her. The transparency thing was something I considered when Toru mentions that someone is always there, but not visible. In my mind, she turned within herself and vanished only to be seen in this other place on the other side of the well wall.
Another thing I considered, is that physically she was holed-up somewhere, but that she visited Toru in the form of Creta. Creta had the same body type and often reminded Toru of Kumiko. Later, when Creta’s baby is discussed, another blogger and I could not help but think that this “baby” was the baby that Kumiko aborted early in the marriage.

Crazy, huh? I had a lot of fun coming up with possibilities. Especially when I realized that no theory is really wrong, considering Murakami had no idea where he was going with the story when he wrote it.

Who was the guy without a face?

In the final hotel scene, Toru gets some assistance from a man without a face. I took this to mean that his face was not visible to Toru (for whatever reason). Many ideas ran through my mind. At first, I thought it was Ushikawa, the loser guy that was a messenger for Noboru. Then, I thought it was Toru from the other side. What I’ve settled on, is that it was Cinnamon. That Cinnamon took the bat from the well and put it in that hotel room for Toru to use later. This also fits if you think about Cinnamon leaving the computer accessible so that Toru could read the Chronicles if he chose to do so. It’s as if Nutmeg and Cinnamon were hired to help him out. I sort of liked this idea so that is what I am sticking to.

What do you think?

What part did you least enjoy in book three?

I really, really did not like the bits about World War II. I didn’t mind the mining camp too much but when it went back to discuss the 2nd massacre and we got to know Boris the Manskinner a little bit more, I really had to focus as I was tempted to skim. However, now that I am done with the book, I think if any true answers are to be found that they are to be found in those sections.

Your turn! What’s your final verdict?

Did you enjoy the experience? If this was your first experience with Murakami’s writing, will you be reading his other books at some point? Or have you decided he’s not for you?

Finally, Thank you!

Thank you for reading along with me. I know many of you went outside of your comfort zone to join me and I appreciate it! It’s been fun and I will miss the interaction. I spent the last week going through withdrawals but I think I’m good now!

And the mysterious black/blue mark that I reported having last week seems to be fading. This is my final update post but I may write-up a short review that includes all of the updates posts and a little bit more. Other than that, we are done!

Blue Black Mark - Wind-Up

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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Book One)
By Haruki Murakami
(Vintage, Paperback, 9780679775430, 1998, 624pp.)

This post shares my thoughts on book one. If you are reading along with me and have not finished book one, save this post for later as it may contain spoilers.

What was your initial reaction after reading the first few chapters?

My initial reaction was that this was straight-up Murakami. It opens with the preparation of a simple meal, music is mentioned, a strange phone call interrupts the mundane. It’s expected if you’ve read any of his other books, but at the same time, it’s like coming home. It’s comforting and lulls me into a false sense of security.

What do you think of the characters? Do you have a favorite?

I am a bit further along in the book than I expected to be at this writing but what I’ve found is that my favorites keep changing. Since this is an update for book one, I’d have to say that in book one, my fave character is May. She’s odd but in a likable way. Innocent but at the same time, worldly. She puts things simply and what she says makes sense. I am intrigued by her.

What about the story? Is it interesting? Predictable?

The elements are predictable. Murakami has a thing for ears. Specifically the shape of ears. This book is no exception. Food preparation is always showcased in some way and with Toru, many of the meals are simple meals. Meals that you’d expect a single man to eat. A hint at what’s to come? Possibly.

There’s also the missing cat. Murakami loves cats or he hates them because they are often tortured or abused in some way (although we have not seen any abuse in book one). There is also prostitution and awkward sex! Let’s not forget the musical references. Murakami loves his music and will often insert musical references into his books. For 1Q84, the publisher created a Spotify playlist (might have to be logged in for that link to work) that I listened to while reading that book, but I didn’t find anything for this book. I’ve Googled a few of the musical references to hear the pieces though. Oh, and he is really into reading too so there are lots of literary references as well.

As for the story, it’s very odd. In book one, Toru lives a simple life with his wife, Kumiko. He’s unemployed and she works outside of the home. Their cat goes missing. A strange woman calls and tries to have phone sex with Toru. A rather odd neighbor girl (May) befriends Toru. There is a vacant alley that has some importance and a vacant house with bad vibes. Two sisters, Malta and Creta materialize. Both have special talents some of which are still being cultivated. There is a lieutenant with a story. It’s all so surreal and odd yet so compelling. It’s about as interesting as it can be without dropping acid before reading it.

Are you surprised by anything you’ve read thus far? If so, what?

I didn’t expect to fly through book one as quickly as I did. It’s more readable than some of his other books. I remember reading Kafka on the Shore and thinking about fifty pages in that this guy must have been hallucinating while writing the story. I didn’t have that reaction with this one. One thought seems to lead to another and there seems to be more of a flow to this story. I was a little surprised by the end of book one. I was warned that this particular part was gruesome and it was, but it didn’t weird me out as much as the cat scenes did in Kafka. Maybe because the actual scene in question was rather short and didn’t go on for that long. Or maybe the manner in which it was detailed was a little too clinical for me to be totally weirded out by it. Either way, I got through it without a hitch. I know from some of the comments on Twitter that this was not the case for most of you.

How does the writing make you feel?

Calm. Relaxed. He alternates between mundane and surreal which puts me in a dreamy state. Dreamy might be a stretch for some of the parts but I so often feel as if I am floating in a calm body of water. There is no “loudness” to his novels. Everything is quietly done, even torture! The flip side to this is that many of the characters come across as apathetic. Something happens, and their reactions are very measured. Maybe it’s a translation thing. My friend is reading it in Japanese and she said she’d let me know if the characters come across that way in Japanese. You remember the tsunami that hit Japan a few years ago? Such devastation yet the people were so calm. Maybe it’s a cultural thing.

What food or drink have you been craving since reading book one?

People that read Murakami for the first time expect there to be a lot of talk about Japanese food but most of his food references are not Japanese at all. He loves Italian food. Spaghetti is popular. Omelettes are popular too. And what is it about potato salad? But there is one dish that he cooked early on that involved beef and green peppers. I made that dish! I took pictures and everything. Here is a small photo. It was really good. But what I have been craving the most since reading book one is BEER. Yep. He mentions it quite a bit.

Beef Dish from Wind-Up

Anything else you want to add?

So far, this is my favorite Murakami book. That could change as I finish each volume but book one is staying with me far longer than any of his other books have.

What do YOU think so far? If you want to comment, add a comment to this post or use the hashtag below to find us on Twitter. If you did a write-up on your blog, use Mister Linky below to add a link to it.

You do not need to comment at all if you don’t want to! Next up, book two and we have until April 28th to finish it. Thanks for reading along!

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