Wade into Murakami's Dreamlike, Nightmarish "Wind Up Bird Chronicle"

 

Strange things happen in The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. Our protagonist runs into a psychic advisor who gives him vague warnings of future events, he begins having wet dreams for the first time ever - during a particularly tumultuous time in his marriage, and his beloved cat of 7 years has gone missing. As I waded into the dreamlike (and at times nightmarish) world of Murakami’s acclaimed novel I quickly became engrossed in the story of our main character, Toru Okada.

Toru, a passive man in his late 20’s has recently quit his job at a law firm where he worked as a paralegal. He once had ambitions of taking the BAR exam, but now unemployed, he stays at home and handles the house work. His wife Kumiko works for a publishing house and is the breadwinner of the two. Able to get by on Kumiko’s salary and a small inheritance, Toru has no plans of regaining employment. At home he cooks, cleans, reads and relaxes. He doesn’t leave the house except for laundry and groceries and genuinely enjoys the quiet and calm life he shares with his wife.

After the cat they adopted at the beginning of their marriage runs off, Kumiko urges Toru to spend his free time wandering the neighborhood looking for the feline. Through the quest to find his cat, Toru meets an ensemble of fascinating characters who share their stories with him and lead him in unexpected directions. These characters include a lieutenant, a psychic, and his teenage neighbor who spends her days sunbathing in her backyard. Every one has a unique story or perspective of life, often shared through lengthy monologues that are every bit as captivating as the main story. These character interactions drive the narrative as Toru apathetically goes through the motions expected of him as a house husband.

As the novel progresses we descend into stranger territory that borderlines supernatural, and the deeper we get the more difficult it is to discern what is real and what’s not. As a fan of the works of David Lynch, this one hits the spot.