The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle [B0189]

1998 PB. A "dreamlike and compelling" tour de force (Chicago Tribune)-an astonishingly imaginative detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets from Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria during World War II. In a Tokyo suburb, a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife's missing cat-and then for his wife as well-in a netherworld beneath the city's placid surface. As these searches intersect, he encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists. Gripping, prophetic, and suffused with comedy and menace, this is one of Haruki Murakami's most acclaimed and beloved novels.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Need to reread. Story is enrapturing yet confusing."; "Hard to know what to make of that but did really enjoy it. I was 450 pages in and someone asked me what it was about and I genuinely couldn't explain it. Characters and random side stories had such depth and I loved the style and surreal nature without it feeling ridiculous or for comic effect. Guess I went 4 rather than 5 stars as it did feel slightly anticlimactic with the characters not all having their loose ends tied but guess that's sort of the point. Not read anything like that really and would try some of his other stuff now."; "The character May Kasahara wrote my review for me: "But really, Mr. Wind-Up Bird, it's been a lot of fun being with you. No kidding. I mean, you're such a supernormal guy, but you do such unnormal things. And you're so – what? – unpredictable. So hanging around with you hasn't been boring in any way." It's like a long dream that envelops you in its weird logic."