Book Review: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (ねじまき鳥クロニクル)

Haruki Murakami is a great writer. He writes to find an answer. I don't know what is the answer that he's been looking for, but for each one of his journeys, one thing that he always offers to his readers: solitude. It grows stronger in every book of his that I manage to read. All of the main characters are isolated or accidentally plan to isolate from the society. 

Toru Okada is pretty much living the life of a lonesome wanderer. He enjoys living alone, even after the sudden leave of his wife and cat. He is pleased enough to jump into the well and sit in it for countless hours. As much as he feels sad about the abruptness that happened to his life, deep inside the well, he is happy enough to spend more hours in the well of an abandoned house in his neighbourhood. 

Just like most of his books, Murakami is positioning himself in each one of his characters, who is aimless. No purpose to go. No destination to reach. Toru's life is basically like a flowing river. He just keeps going without exact goals. A perfect example of a living human being with no life. 

Although, there is always a reason why Toru's life is looking aimless. And it happens when his wife, Kumiko Okada is disappeared. This is then when the absurdity and a brand new realm come to the surface of Murakami's book. I can assure myself that he has kind of template. Absurdity and surrealism are two things that exist in each one of his works. 

Another template from his books is the existence of supporting cast, which is all women. Each one of them shares similar personality; unique, thirst for sex, an affair to the main character, and full of lust. As for this book, there is this young girl called May Kasahara. She has personalities like  Midori and Fuka-Eri. Plus, Toru gets Mr Wind-up Bird chronicle's nickname from May. But May is an extrovert and yes, like most of Murakami's books, the main character always fantasise this supporting cast. There is always sex ritual, either it happens only in his mind or in real life. 

But I never find the erotic scenes of each one of Murakami's books as vulgar or porn. Well, it was for the first time ( the first book I read is Norwegian Wood), but not anymore. Murakami treats the sex as the problem solver. It's cult-kind-of ritual, but all of the sex scenes are conducted only to find the answer to whatever problems the main character has faced during the story. And sometimes, in real life, sex is the only answer, right?!

Just like most of his books, there is another juxtaposed world. The world in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is started when Toru Okada jumps into the well and spends hours in it. He fell asleep and had a dream. In his dream, the second world takes over. And through it, only he can find the answers to the problem that he faces in real life. In this case is the sudden disappearance of his wife.

In a nutshell, this book offers me the same feeling to previous ones I read. Partly, it tells about a history lesson, metaphysical speculation and the biggest part of it is surrealism which is linked to the main character muted fears and desires. As Toru searches for his wife, in an abandoned lot near his house, which I also find strange and funny, I almost gave up finishing it, he encounters some characters. May is one of them. She is a death-obsessed, 16-year-old neighbour. Another prominent character is his brother-in-law, a sinister politician who happened to remain mysterious in the book (which I find disappointing). Also, a mysterious woman who calls Toru regularly, insisting on phone sex. But, I think the phone sex scene is actually the gate to the second world, after the well.

Another strange feeling is the blue stain on his cheek which is only happened whenever he finished sitting in that well. Such a mystical experience, though Haruki never tells later in the book, what is actually that blue stain. What does it actually mean?

To sum it up, Haruki is the man who can link history to a detective story in a surrealist manner. I don't know what is the purpose of that decision since it's also almost like his own template. Either it is to catapult the narrator to the surreal place (which is himself) where the mysteries are solved or he only wants to bring a brand new world to us, the readers. But if I could choose, I go with the first one. I remember his interview,

When I start to write, I don't have any plan at all. I just wait for the story to come.

I know it sounds like bragging, but try reading one of his books. You will never find any writing, scribbles, or other books are as good as his.You will be bored by the young adult genre or a simple twist with surface-like problems. You want more of a complicated story with no ending like what you'll find in all of Haruki Murakami's books.

Me and him <3