Friday 4 September 2015

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami


“Is it possible, in the final analysis, for one human being to achieve perfect understanding of another?

Take a trip into a strange dreamlike world of missing cats,war, sexually suggestive phone calls and frantic attempts to connect with other human beings in a meaningful fashion.
This was the perfect novel for a long, long, long haul flight home. Actually I finished it on the first leg. What can I say, I was engrossed.. heck I also finished watching 4 movies (at least).

Murakami takes the everyday, the mundane events, and transforms them, highlighting the weird and other worldly moments that cross our paths. There is something deeper and ultimately human about what he brings forth and it is both amazing and entertaining, while simultaneously real and unreal.

This book calls to mind primal urges and fundamental concerns that lie behind our everyday thoughts and actions. Yet, to describe it thusly,does it somewhat of a disservice, because it is also restrained and constrained and beautiful.
Life is a constant battle of trying to encapsulate our feelings, our senses, our emotions and thoughts into easy to deal with segments, a battle which we are unlikely to overcome. Will we ever truly understand other peoples' thoughts and motivations when our own are an indecipherable puzzle that constantly taunts us?

Knowing that we are not alone in this journey of unending questions that will never be thoroughly answered is something this book delivers; well that was my takeaway in any case.

A jazz riff on unemployment, human relations, thoughts,emotions, feelings and everything in between. Read it and let me know your thoughts, I'm eager to hear.

5 out of 5 windup birds swoop and soar.

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