[Book Notes] The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

"How well can you really know someone?"

The novel is a story of desire, loneliness, betrayal, reflection, and self-transformation. "Something trivial got me started, just as most important things in the world have small beginnings."

It is a delight to see echoes of Murakami's other works permeate this one. Someone working in a print shop/business appears, echoing the protagonist of the Rat series. The military officer in charge of mapmaking recalls Storm Trooper in Norwegian Wood. Asahikawa and Hokkaido are mentioned again from the Rat series.

The story features a nontraditional man, a powerfully unfaithful wife, and an incestuous, lustful brother. It stresses reflection, especially when reflection is not wanted.

Lesson

Go deep in yourself and become yourself. Don't overthink; just act. "I leave the imagining to other people. Imagination here can be fatal."

— Jay