OK folks. We are back in business. Back to the basics of this blog, and back to some real honest to goodness recommending. It feels really good. Unfortunately it is something that has already been recommended to you, but I really wanted to drive this one home.
The Windup Bird Chronicle (not Chronicles, like Huff would have you believe (i before e except after c)) comes from the Mike Gittings list, but Murakami in general also comes to us from TJ's list. You will remember this exact book and this exact author being mentioned in TJ's first post as a full-time Thursday recommendeerer in this post. I really enjoyed that post the first time, and enjoyed it just as much this second time just now.
I may be confused about the order of events here, but I'm pretty sure I first heard about little Murakami from TJ's mouth. He had talked this guy up long before I read a book by him. Then HSV bought me The Elephant Vanishes for a Christmas or birthday, which is a collection of Murakami short stories. While I really enjoyed the short stories, I was not in love with them like I expected to be after constantly hearing about the guy via TJ's man-crush. Some time went by and Huff was visiting and we found ourselves in Atomic Books in Hamden. I think this was around Christmastime as well (perhaps the following Christmas) and I decided to give this Murakami guy another chance. On Huff's recommendation I bought South of the Border, West of the Sun. I read this one really quickly, and liked it more than the short stories. You'll see how much I liked it when I rank my Murakami reads at the bottom of this blog. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed those short stories. But I think one thing that I really like about Murakami's writing in novels is how he unfolds a story slowly (almost with nothing really happening) over the course of a longer period of time. There is just no time for that in a short story.
This past Christmas I got Norwegian Wood as a present (I think I asked for it) and finished that quickly as well and liked it. Liked it not completetly loved it. Definitely worth reading, and I definitely recommend it, but I didn't love love it. About a month after finishing Norwegian Wood I got this Gittings recommends list and saw The Windup Bird Chronicle on it. I had been curious about this for a while because it is supposedly Murakimi's most recognized book, but Huff always shyed me away from it, recommended both South of the Border and Norwegian Wood ahead of it. Now, I don't hold this against him, and I actually see why he recommended those to me (the little man's reference to jazz artists like Eric Dolphy are all over those books). But when this showed up on Mike's list I decided to give it a try and order it. It took about three weeks to read (pretty casually...not obsessively because it is long). I must say, The Windup Bird Chronicle is my favorite Murakami to date. I love loved this book, and I think a lot of the readers of this blog would as well. As TJ mentioned it is more of the fantastic side of Murakami's writing. None of his books I had read to this point had that element to them, and I really enjoyed it in Windup Bird. It makes me want to read Kafka on the Shore next. TJ gives you a pretty good description in the blog referenced above. I disagree that it gets slow...at least that never happened for me. Even the historical parts, which I enjoyed less than the rest of the book, kept my attention and remained interesting.
If you have never read Murakami before I recommend maybe not starting with this one. If you end up not liking his style, this is a big commitment. I would maybe start with South of the Border, West of the Sun and if you enjoy it in any way, even if you don't love love it, I recommend you read The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. I thought it was stand-out fantastic. Good call Mike Gittings. TJ I can't believe you tried to keep me away from this. For shame.
I definitely put this one high up there on my recommends list. I will consider lending it to you if you want to hold me to this. Now, I have only read four Murakami books, so I am no source for the guys writing. I have definitely enjoyed all of them, with Windup Bird being the one that I really really loved. If forced to rank them it would go as follows:
1. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
2. South of the Border, West of the Sun
3. Norwegian Wood
4. The Elephant Vanishes (only because I favor the novels to the short stories)
5 comments:
now hold on one gosh darn second! i'd like the inside cover of this book if i could just to show it that i liked it... and also because i've been hanging around with cats a lot recently. this is indeed an amazing book and possibly number 2 or 3 on my list. just like you say though... its not necessarily for beginners of murakami... due to sheer length and his slow pacing i wanted to lure you in with the bait of quicker and punchier emotion hitting books. but i am glad you like this one. i like it lots as well. i think you are correct with putting kafka on the shore next on your list - it is the closest one to windup bird chronicle(s) in style, length and tj appreciation. though there are more fantastical ones such as the elephant vanishes and dance dance dance that might be up your alley if you like sheep-men and underground caves and stuff you sci-fi dweeb you.
woop! switch "like the inside cover" to "lick the inside cover"... joke poorly executed due to pavlovianly trained typey typey fingers
i like how you tried not to offend me with your dislike of the elephant vanishes. don't worry, i can appreciate that you don't have literary taste. :)
come on, an elephant vanishes!
come on, they rob a bakery!
come on, there is a mystical dwarf creature!
the elephant vanishes was highly amusing.
most people in baltimore think it is spelled hamden because that is how they say it, but really it is hampden (i before e, except after c).
I actually started with Kafka and liked it. After reading The Wind-up Bird, I'm definitely hooked.
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