Looking back at my review for Kafka on the Shore, I feel like I understand the novel better having more Murakami experience. The WInd-up Bird Chronicle is my favorite book of those I have read. It is less violent and seems more psychological and has a tidier conclusion than the other two novels.
It opens, of course, with the search for a missing feline. The feline belongs to a couple, Toru Okada and Kumiko Okada. An essential bit of information here is that the cat is named after Kumiko's brother, whom is detested by them. Of course there is a cat psychic (Tokyo must be full of such) whom Toru is supposed to work with to find the cat, but it turns out that they (the cat psychics are a two sister team) play a larger role helping Toru to reconcile to his wife's sudden and unexplained disappearance.
Toru's attempts to understand what led to her departure and how to get her to return take up ~600 pages, perhaps not for the faint of heart. There is a significant strand of story concerning the Japanese invasion and occupation of Manchuria which I admit I knew nothing about. What the book does best is to describe the psychological process of understanding using dreams and "real" characters as manifestations of aspects of people. At least, that is how I am choosing to interpret the book.
It opens, of course, with the search for a missing feline. The feline belongs to a couple, Toru Okada and Kumiko Okada. An essential bit of information here is that the cat is named after Kumiko's brother, whom is detested by them. Of course there is a cat psychic (Tokyo must be full of such) whom Toru is supposed to work with to find the cat, but it turns out that they (the cat psychics are a two sister team) play a larger role helping Toru to reconcile to his wife's sudden and unexplained disappearance.
Toru's attempts to understand what led to her departure and how to get her to return take up ~600 pages, perhaps not for the faint of heart. There is a significant strand of story concerning the Japanese invasion and occupation of Manchuria which I admit I knew nothing about. What the book does best is to describe the psychological process of understanding using dreams and "real" characters as manifestations of aspects of people. At least, that is how I am choosing to interpret the book.
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