The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

A Novel

By: Haruki Murakami

Narrated by: Rupert Degas

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.

Now with a new introduction by the author.

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.

Critic reviews

“Dreamlike and compelling.... Murakami is a genius.” —Chicago Tribune

“Mesmerizing.... Murakami’s most ambitious attempt yet to stuff all of modern Japan into a single fictional edifice.” —The Washington Post Book World

“A significant advance in Murakami’s art ... a bold and generous book.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A stunning work of art ... that bears no comparisons.” —New York Observer

“With The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Murakami spreads his brilliant, fantastical wings and soars.” —Philadelphia Inquirer

“Seductive.... A labyrinth designed by a master, at once familiar and irresistibly strange.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“An epic ... as sculpted and implacable as a bird by Brancusi.” —New York Magazine

“Mesmerizing, original ... fascinating, daring, mysterious and profoundly rewarding.” —Baltimore Sun

“A beguiling sense of mystery suffuses The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and draws us irresistibly and ever deeper into the phantasmagoria of pain and memory.... Compelling [and] convincing.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Digs relentlessly into the buried secrets of Japan’s past ... brilliantly translated into the latest vernacular.” —Pico Iyer, Time

Wanted to like it, was put off by narration.

What didn’t you like about Rupert Degas’s performance?

I started out really enjoying this book and wanted to keep listening, but within an hour I had to return it because of the way Rupert Degas voiced the female characters. I normally don't mind a slight change in tone to indicate different characters, but the young girl especially unfortunately reminded me of every stereotypical "man trying to sound like a girl" that just comes off annoying and a little bit creepy. Quite a shame.

Not my favorite but that's just me

Overall my interest in this book peaked about midway and then steadily declined from there. By the end I was almost bored and apathetic about how it would conclude.

The performance is solid for the male characters but not so for the female characters. I'm not sure if this is a Murukami thing or a vocal performance thing, but all the female characters seemed stupid, obnoxious, and vapid. I wonder what my experience of the book would have been like without these choices of female voices by the performer.

Though talented, now isn’t the time.

Like it or not the Reader inserts himself dead center, with a bizarre performance making the final product come off more like a comedy or satire rather then the strange, absurd, atmospheric novel it is. The voice actor does a decent enough job for the main character and Main Narrator, but it started to really anger me and get on my nerves when he began seemingly interpreting lines and throwing his voice, making the lines trail off, whispering Ect Ect. Like I said, the guy is pretty talented but I wanted to hear someone read the lines of the book while I drive, not hear a play. 2/5

difficult listening to Rupert Degas

just outright bad reading. I would like to enjoy this book but I just can't get over Degas' character voices.

Good story

Story was intriguing enough. My biggest issue was with the narrator reading the girls parts. It made cringe at times.