The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
A special hardback edition of Haruki Murakami's epic, magical masterpiece, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. This celebrated novel is published in a stunning new gift edition, featuring a fresh introduction from the author to mark the forthcoming release of Novelist as a Vocation.
As the story begins, we meet Toru Okada, a man whose ordinary life in suburban Tokyo begins to unravel in mysterious and unexpected ways. Okada's mundane routine, involving simple pleasures like cooking, reading, and listening to jazz and opera while enjoying a beer at the kitchen table, takes a surreal turn when his cat disappears. This seemingly trivial event marks the onset of a series of strange occurrences that gradually erode the tidy fabric of his day-to-day existence.
His wife, Kumiko, becomes increasingly distant, and the once-familiar landscape of their relationship begins to shift. Adding to the sense of unease, Okada starts receiving explicit and unsettling telephone calls from an unknown woman. As he ventures deeper into this perplexing and dreamlike odyssey, Okada encounters a host of enigmatic characters, each contributing a piece of their own unique story to the jigsaw puzzle of his life.
This rich narrative weaves a multitude of textured layers, blending aspects of reality and the fantastical into a mesmerising tapestry. As Okada navigates through this labyrinth of experiences, guided by cryptic messages and otherworldly occurrences, Murakami explores themes of loss, memory, and identity, delivering a profound and philosophically engaging read.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle has received high praise for its imaginative narrative and lyrical prose:
"Visionary...a bold and generous book" - New York Times
"Murakami weaves textured layers of reality into a shot-silk garment of deceptive beauty" - Independent on Sunday
"Deeply philosophical and teasingly perplexing, it is impossible to put down" - Daily Telegraph
"Mesmerising, surreal, this really is the work of a true original" - The Times
Experience the enchantment and mystery of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle in this beautifully crafted hardback edition, a must-have for collectors and newcomers alike.
Series: Murakami Collectible Classics
View allBook Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
The book blends themes of contemporary Japan, urban alienation, and self-discovery with elements of war memories, metaphysics, dreams, and hallucinations, creating a powerful and impressionistic narrative. Critics have described it as deeply philosophical, beautifully textured, and impossible to put down, noting Murakami's distinctive originality.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781784878009
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 04 August 2022
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Vintage Classics
Contributors:
- Introduction by Haruki Murakami
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 53.0mm
Width: 144.0mm
Height: 222.0mm
Weight: 729g
Pages: 640
About the Author
In 1978, Haruki Murakami was twenty-nine and running a jazz bar in downtown Tokyo. One April day, the impulse to write a novel came to him suddenly while watching a baseball game. That first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, won a new writers' award and was published the following year. More followed, including A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, but it was Norwegian Wood, published in 1987, which turned Murakami from a writer into a phenomenon. His books became bestsellers, were translated into many languages, including English, and the door was thrown wide open to Murakami's unique and addictive fictional universe. Murakami writes with admirable discipline, producing ten pages a day, after which he runs ten kilometres (he began long-distance running in 1982 and has participated in numerous marathons and races), works on translations, and then reads, listens to records and cooks. His passions colour his non-fiction output, from What I Talk About When I Talk About Running to Absolutely On Music, and they also seep into his novels and short stories, providing quotidian moments in his otherwise freewheeling flights of imaginative inquiry. In works such as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 1Q84 and Men Without Women, his distinctive blend of the mysterious and the everyday, of melancholy and humour, continues to enchant readers, ensuring Murakami's place as one of the world's most acclaimed and well-loved writers.
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