the wind up bird chronicle

I finished this book just recently (maybe 2 weeks ago) and I couldn't stop thinking about it so I decided to encapsulate my experience by writing about this on my blog.

After reading The Wind Up Bird Chronicle (ねじまき鳥クロニクル) I feel like I just want to curl up in the bottom of a dried well. Actually, there is scene about that in this book (spoiler alert?). Toru Okada--the 30-something years old man who was looking for his wife's cat--discovered a lot more than what he initially looked for after a mysterious phone call from a woman. 

While looking for the cat in his neighborhood, he met a quirky 16 year old girl (probably my favourite character) who started calling him "Mr. Wind-Up Bird". May Kasahara--the 16 year old girl--worked at a wig manufacturing company, has her own point of view of life; she's not even afraid of death itself. I enjoy how this May character is actually antecedent of Yuki in Dance Dance Dance, which is another strange teenage girl in Murakami's world.

The simplest summary I can say about this book is that it tells story about Toru's journey to find Kumiko--his wife. Along the way, he encountered many different characters who gives him anomalous events that sometimes don't even make any sense. My favorite part of the book is (spoilers) when Toru developed this weird bruise-like mark on his cheek. This is when everything starts to get us readers thinking and guessing even more. There are many different characters that helped Toru in many different ways that I just can't stop thinking about, especially the Kano sisters, who started strong, yet gradually disappeared halfway throughout the book. Lieutenant Mamiya is also another vital character. His war story was petrifying and impressive. The sudden introduction of wealthy lady Nutmeg Akasaka who once a fashion designer turned spiritual healer and her obedient mute son, Cinnamon, were another crucial part. The riddles created, but the answer follows--in such profound way.

I think it's only natural for Murakami to make the readers feel detached yet whole at the same time. His way of words is powerful that it creates such graphic image in my head whenever I read a sentence from the book--very vivid yet too surreal. This is a solid thick book to read when you just want to shut the world out and be immersed in a dreamlike tale.

Finally, I just want to end this with a little sketch I did of May Kasahara, as well as my favorite quote by her.

May Kasahara in her Adidas tank.

"But finally, Mr. Wind-Up Bird, isn't that just what life is? Aren't we all trapped in the dark somewhere, and they've taken away our food and water, and we're slowly dying, little by little...?” -- May Kasahara.

On the other hand, I want to show you guys my new planter :-) it's a skull shaped mini plant pot that my mom bought me last week. It's so adorable and doesn't take up much space in our house. The plant that's growing inside is a 5 days-old grass seed (that comes with the pot!) and I can't wait for it to grow even taller. I plan on putting a small cacti plant if I ever found one that is tiny enough to fit in it.