The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Plot: Toru Okada is a very ordinary man living with his wife Kumiko in Tokyo until their cat runs away, soon followed by Kumiko. In this story, Toru meets many bizarre allies in his desperate search for his wife, such as a scarred war veteran, a morbid teenage girl and a psychic prostitute. By trying to find Kumiko, Toru discovers parts of himself he never knew existed.

Comments: This was a very strange book. The characters were certainly creatively random and mismatched - yet they fit together in this puzzle of a story. Because of the back-and-forth narratives, confusing concepts and intriguing ideas, even now I cannot quite decide how I feel about the book in its entirety. This book is not straightforward or obvious and seems to meander its way from beginning to end.

Though I admire the character Toru Okada for his deep love for Kumiko and his persistence in searching for her, I'm not certain that I ever really liked him. Toru lacked initiative and the urge to do something, anything, both qualities which I regard highly. He appeared to be content taking naps on his couch and pondering day after day. This soon became boring and slightly annoying.

Truthfully, I found quite a bit of the book rather boring. Already a long story with over six hundred pages, I was hindered in my progress through the book by overly descriptive sections that took pages and which many times caused me to stop reading. In addition to this, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was very vague and confusing in its concepts. All the psychology and mind-power felt forced, as if Murakami was trying very hard to create a dreamy, mysterious world where truth and illusion mingle poetically. It didn't work for me.

In conclusion, I have decided that I didn't really like the book after all. Even understanding the intention of subtlety, I gleaned no significant message from the story. Occasionally a narrative would be interesting, even captivating, but in general I found difficulty concentrating on the pages. Overall, this was not a book I particularly enjoyed reading.

Rating: I rate this book a six out of ten.