11.Oct.2007 The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

I’m running bookrings for this book.
1 copy in Singapore
1 copy goes around the world (currently traveling to Europe)
If you’re in Singapore I will gladly lend you my copy (I can easily send it by mail). If you’re somewhere else, you can join the ring :)

Got this from: Borders Singapore
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

From the back cover:
“Toru Okada’s cat has disappeared and his wife is growing more distant every day. Then there are the increasingly explicit telephone calls he has started receiving. As this compelling story unfolds, the tidy suburban realities of Okada’s vague and blameless life are turned inside out, and he embarks on a bizarre journey, guided by a succession of characters, each with a tale to tell.”

In my own words (halfway through the book):
Main character is a guy in suburban Japan, living with his wife, and cat which disappeared at the beginning of the book. At first looking for the cat, he starts to meet all kinds of weird characters with their own quirky stories and personalities. At several parts of the book I found myself like the King in 1001 Arabian Nights when his wife stops telling her story in the middle of exciting part, “Nooo, don’t stop here. Please continue!” Which is exactly what the guy does when all these weird people he meets suddenly decides to stop their tales for whatever reason. Love this book :). I found myself reading like a little kid, all wide-eyed and open-jawed throughout the book.

After I finished the book:
Not exactly sure if I like the second half of the book (I totally love the first half!). The book is a trilogy. The third part gets much weirder. A lot of things are left unanswered at the end, which left me a bit unsatisfied. But my friend said that’s what makes a book great, like what makes a movie art house, that you leave things for the audiences to figure out (I’m not totally convinced though. He’s British =P). Still at the end this is a book I would highly recommend for anyone to read. It’s also one of the 1001 books you must read before you die :).

It’s definitely a page turner and it’s a very thick book. This is the third Murakami’s book that I read. I plan to read ALL of his books (that’ll take me a while. He got about 10 books or so). He’s the second author whose books I want to read all. First was Amy Tan.

Memorable Quotes

“Curiosity can bring guts out of hiding at times, maybe even get them going. But curiosity evaporates. Guts have to go for the long haul. Curiosity’s like an amusing friend you can’t really trust. It turns you on and then it leaves you to make it on your own- with whatever guts you can muster.” ~ pg 65

“When you get used to that kind of life- of never having anything you want- then you stop knowing what it is you want.” ~ pg 72

“The passage of time will usually extract the venom from most things and render them harmless.” ~ pg 79

“You’ve got to spend your money on the things that money can buy, not worry about profit or loss. Save your energy for the things that money can’t buy.” ~ pg 115

“Memories and thoughts age, just as people do. But certain thoughts can never age, and certain memories can never fade.” ~ pg 207

“There is nothing so cruel in this world as the desolation of having nothing to hope for.” ~ pg 346

“Hell has no true bottom.” ~ pg 547