The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

This book by Haruki Murakami was highly recommended by Lauren and was completely absorbing and very rich.  Simple writing, but compelling – parts were very funny, or horrifying, or terribly sad, or sexually stimulating, or thought-provoking.  The simplicity of the writing seemed to imply or even emphasize the normalcy of life – but this was strongly contradicted by the strangeness of some of the characters, the mysterious relationships between different plot lines, the magical nature of many key events, and some deeply embedded philosophical issues.

I was captivated by the book, but found it hard to “understand”.  For example, take the title – the wind-up bird is something that the protagonist, Toru Okada, hears, but never sees – a “bird” apparently, that lives somewhere in the trees near his home, and often makes a strange call or noise that sounds like a mechanical wind-up bird.  Mr. Okada frequently comments that the bird winds up, or starts, the day, so the world can go on.  But the bird is sometimes described not as an actual flesh-and-blood animal but like a strictly mechanical contrivance that has no emotions, no goals, no remorse.  And, importantly, but mysteriously, Mr. Okada’s neighbor begins referring to him as Mr. Wind-Up Bird – and this nickname seems a little edgy… that he is a bit of a character and a little mechanical himself.  And, indeed, Mr. Okada is extremely emotionless and seems rather passive, yet eventually turns out to have extraordinary powers – powers that seem really to wind-up or change the world.  So, does the wind-up bird represent “fate” versus “free will”?

Very captivating and very thought-provoking…..and perhaps, like Shakespeare, doesn’t provide clear answers or conclusions!