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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel (Vintage…
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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel (Vintage International) (original 1995; edition 1998)

by Haruki Murakami

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
17,803368279 (4.17)5 / 1045
Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. HTML:A "dreamlike and compellingâ? tour de force (Chicago Tribune)â??an astonishingly imaginative detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets from Japanâ??s forgotten campaign in Manchuria during World War II.

In a Tokyo suburb, a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wifeâ??s missing catâ??and then for his wife as wellâ??in a netherworld beneath the cityâ??s placid surface. As these searches intersect, he encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists. Gripping, prophetic, and suffused with comedy and menace, this is one of Haruki Murakamiâ??s most accla
… (more)
Member:jdayrutherford
Title:The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel (Vintage International)
Authors:Haruki Murakami
Info:Vintage (1998), Edition: 1st Vintage International Ed, Paperback
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:fiction

Work Information

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (1995)

  1. 162
    Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (derelicious)
  2. 122
    1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (PaulBerauer)
  3. 92
    One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (eromsted)
  4. 61
    Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (andomck)
    andomck: Both books, besides having science fiction/magical realism elements, discuss bloody episodes of WWII from the point of view of everyday people.
  5. 50
    Ghostwritten by David Mitchell (derelicious)
  6. 50
    Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins (Alialibobali)
  7. 30
    A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon (DeDeNoel)
    DeDeNoel: Both this and Wind-Up Bird are about a man dealing with odd circumstances and going through a change. If you like the way Murakami writes, you probably will enjoy Mark Haddon's writing.
  8. 31
    The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster (alzo)
  9. 31
    The Little Friend by Donna Tartt (ainsleytewce)
  10. 20
    The Magus by John Fowles (WoodsieGirl)
  11. 10
    Oh!: A mystery of 'mono no aware' by Todd Shimoda (Magus_Manders)
  12. 10
    The Sea Came in at Midnight by Steve Erickson (alzo)
  13. 00
    Phantastes by George MacDonald (charlie68)
  14. 00
    After the Quake by Haruki Murakami (andomck)
  15. 00
    Harbor by John Ajvide Lindqvist (aethercowboy)
  16. 00
    How the Hula Girl Sings by Joe Meno (andomck)
  17. 00
    Vilnius Poker by Ricardas Gavelis (Sarasamsara)
  18. 00
    The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God & Other Stories by Etgar Keret (-Eva-)
  19. 01
    The Interpreter by Suki Kim (booklove2)
    booklove2: Both books involve a displaced from the world character searching for clues to solve mysteries.
1990s (4)
Asia (71)
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English (327)  Dutch (9)  Spanish (6)  French (5)  Swedish (4)  Danish (4)  German (3)  Norwegian (2)  Italian (2)  Arabic (1)  Hebrew (1)  Catalan (1)  All languages (365)
Showing 1-5 of 327 (next | show all)
This was my first Murakami novel. I liked some parts of it a lot. Especially the first half of the story - a fascinating blend of reality and fantasy. What is real, and what is a dream? But I don't think the different elements of the novel came together and formed a coherent story. All the WWII stuff with harrowing stories, the young girl's ramblings, hiding in the well, etc. What's the connection? I liked Creta Kano and her back story, but she suddenly disappeared from the story without explanation. Well, overall, I liked the feeling it created of loneliness and the inability to know what reality is. ( )
  ctpress | Jan 4, 2024 |
Weird as hell but still strangely compelling although I got lost in the twists and turns that link the novel's parallel worlds. ( )
  imjustmea | Dec 23, 2023 |
It was a refreshing getaway from the real world, but I didn't have that edge-of-your-seat-must-read-on feeling that most people describe about it. It was more like a not-really-sure-whats-going-on-so-read-till-its-over kind of feeling. It did get me thinking about who my alternate reality arch-nemesis might be, havn't come up with anything yet. ( )
  jskeltz | Nov 23, 2023 |
I was reminded of this book today because I was discussing the movie Burning which is based on one of Murakami's short stories with my coworker, and he asked if there have been any other adaptations of Murakami's works. I googled it an saw that there was a stage adaptation of this one, and promptly stated I would probably throw up if forced to watch it (and not in a good way). So, simply put, this one is not for the faint of heart.It had everything I expect in a Murakami book: a missing woman, a cat, weird sex dreams, the consumption of simple meals and a few strange side characters. I was especially excited to see Ushikawa of 1Q84 fame show up, and no you cannot convince me that it wasn't the same character. Overall, it wasn't my absolute favorite Murakami, but out of the ones I've read so far, I'd say it's below 1Q84 and Tsukuru, but on par with Norwegian Wood. ( )
  ejerig | Oct 25, 2023 |
A lifeless japanese David Lynch-like story. ( )
  emmby | Oct 4, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 327 (next | show all)
By the book's midway point, the novelist-juggler has tossed so many balls into the air that he inevitably misses a few on the way down. Visionary artists aren't always neat: who reads Kafka for his tight construction? In ''The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle'' Murakami has written a bold and generous book, and one that would have lost a great deal by being tidied up.
 
Mr. Murakami seems to have tried to write a book with the esthetic heft and vision of, say, Don DeLillo's ''Underworld'' or Salman Rushdie's ''The Moor's Last Sigh,'' he is only intermittently successful. ''Wind-Up Bird'' has some powerful scenes of antic comedy and some shattering scenes of historical power, but such moments do not add up to a satisfying, fully fashioned novel. In trying to depict a fragmented, chaotic and ultimately unknowable world, Mr. Murakami has written a fragmentary and chaotic book.
 

» Add other authors (18 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Murakami, Harukiprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Bandini, DitteÜbersetzersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bandini, GiovanniÜbersetzersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Degas, RupertNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Haughton, RichardCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pastore, AntoniettaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Rubin, JayTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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When the phone rang I was in the kitchen, boiling a potful of spaghetti and whistling along with an FM broadcast of the overture to Rossini's The Thieving Magpie, which has to be the perfect music for cooking pasta.
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Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
«Ah, così lei ama la letteratura! – mi avrebbero detto, – anch'io. Da giovane ho letto parecchio». Per loro la letteratura era qualcosa che si leggeva da giovani. Come in primavera si colgono le fragole, e in autunno si vendemmia.
«Io ho solo sedici anni, e il mondo non lo conosco ancora bene, ma una cosa sola posso affermare con sicurezza: se io sono pessimista, un adulto che non lo sia, in questo mondo, è proprio un cretino».
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Wikipedia in English (2)

Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. HTML:A "dreamlike and compellingâ? tour de force (Chicago Tribune)â??an astonishingly imaginative detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets from Japanâ??s forgotten campaign in Manchuria during World War II.

In a Tokyo suburb, a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wifeâ??s missing catâ??and then for his wife as wellâ??in a netherworld beneath the cityâ??s placid surface. As these searches intersect, he encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists. Gripping, prophetic, and suffused with comedy and menace, this is one of Haruki Murakamiâ??s most accla

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Toru Okada lever et yderst stilfærdigt liv med sin kone Kumiko i Japan. Han har sagt sit arbejde op og går egentlig bare hjemme og passer kat. Toru Okadas kone arbejder som redaktør på et forlag og den ene dag følger hurtigt den anden.

Lige indtil alting ændrer sig. I "Trækopfuglens krønike" kan du læse, hvordan alting falder sammen om ørene på Toru Okada, da katten og herefter konen forsvinder sporløst. Og hertil hvordan det hele bliver endnu mere forvirrende, da Toru Okada modtager mystiske opkald af mindst så mystiske mennesker.
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