Wind-Up Wendy's?

March 30, 2005 6:47 AM

Question about Murakami's Wind-Up Bird and 1980's Japan.

I just finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. It was my first Murakami book. I have a couple of questions.

1) The main character not only eats mostly Western food throughout, but also specifically Western fast food. Were there really Dunken Donuts in Japan in the early '80s? Even if there were, what would it tell me about this guy that he eats there a lot?

2) Do you think May Kasahara is really the eldest daughter of the Miyawaki (I think, the well family) family?

3) I understand sections were cut in the translated US version. Does anyone know anything about the differences?

4) I liked the writing, I pretty much liked the story, I thought it ended up being overlong and too diffuse. What Murakami should I read next? Is Underground as good as it seems like it would be?

posted by OmieWise to society & culture (21 comments total)

Read Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

It's pretty darn good.
posted by bshort at 7:15 AM on March 30, 2005

Sorry that I don't have answers to any of your questions (in terms of #2, my response is a boring 'yes'). I just wanted to be the (preemptive, likely solitary) voice of dissent in this thread. As a lover of Gaiman, Delillo, Rushdie, Pynchon, Fitzgerald, pop music, jazz, in short, a bunch of the Murakami touchstones, and having had him recommended lots of times, I read both Wind-Up Bird and Hard-Boiled Wonderland this year. And I hated them both. (Upon finishing WUB, I made the harsh and probably hyperbolic assertion that it was the worst novel I had ever read.) So I'm just popping my head in the door to say that all of the frustrations of Wind-Up Bird are just as present in Hard-Boiled Wonderland, although HBW answers a lot more of its own questions. (They're stupid answers, if you ask me, but you didn't...)
posted by Marquis at 7:39 AM on March 30, 2005

Marquis,

That's part of why I'm asking the questions. I was underwhelmed, and surprised given the props he's gotten and all the touchstones that you mentioned. I did find that I enjoyed the writing, though, so I'm willing to go further depending on what I hear in this thread.
posted by OmieWise at 7:53 AM on March 30, 2005

So I'm just popping my head in the door to say that all of the frustrations of Wind-Up Bird are just as present in Hard-Boiled Wonderland, although HBW answers a lot more of its own questions. (They're stupid answers, if you ask me, but you didn't...)

I don't think you're off-base in your feelings about HBW. I've read Wind-Up Bird twice now and enjoyed it even more the second time through, but HBW was a complete chore for me to finish. Some people really love it and I think that's valid, but overall I think fans of Murakami are divided into different camps for each of his books. The same person who loves one will dislike another.

That's entirely my opinion based on informal discussions about his other novels.

Anyway, I've been reading Kafka on the Shore and would almost rather recommend that one rather than HBW. I'm only a little ways into it, but it has much the same feel as Wind-Up Bird and--to me--feels like a much more mature work than HBW, which as I said isn't my favorite. There's a short story in the Elephant Vanishes that is a very abbreviated version of Wind-Up Bird that's worth checking out too if only to get a better idea of how Murakami constructed the novel. Might also answer some of your larger questions...
posted by box elder at 7:56 AM on March 30, 2005

Eh, I like Hard-Boiled Wonderland a lot, but on the other hand I was disappointed by Wind-Up Bird after it'd been built up so much. I agree that it was overlong and too diffuse. Wonderland is more tightly written and more in tune with my SF/weirdness tendencies.
posted by adrianhon at 8:06 AM on March 30, 2005

I actually just read this for a book club (we're meeting tonight!)

Read Underground. I did like it a LOT more than WUBC, and I liked WUBC fine.
posted by sugarfish at 8:07 AM on March 30, 2005

To (sort of) answer #3:
This email discussion between Murakami translators and editors (specifically some of Jay Rubin's comments) covers the decision-making involved in the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle's editing.

And #4:
I like Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World the next-best after Wind-Up Bird. I thought Kafka on the Shore was pretty weak.
posted by sad_otter at 9:19 AM on March 30, 2005 [1 favorite]

I enjoyed Wind-Up Bird until it's disappointing finish. I'm currently reading Hard Boiled Wonderland, but I basically got bored with it and stopped about 1/3 through... I agree with box elder that it's starting to feel like homework to read it.
posted by knave at 9:22 AM on March 30, 2005

Jeesh sad_otter, I was just about to post that link... anyway I'm still reading Wind-Up. I found this quote intersting...

Another recent example is from "Man-Eating Cats," the story in The New Yorker I did recently. There, two characters are eating breakfast at a "Royal Host" in Tokyo. Again, I left it as is, but Murakami thought Americans aren't familiar with this restaurant chain, and asked that it be changed to "Denny's." And that's what we went with. Royal Host, though, is a pretty nice chain of restaurants, often found in the major airports as well as elsewhere, and a step above Denny's, I think.

Personally, changing refrences in translation upsets me, like if Ulysses was being published today would an editor Americanize some of the Dublin refrences? Even though it is at the authors request I enjoy some of the "alienness' of foreign literature.

... and there are some other refrences there on the importance of food in Japanese literature and vague refrences to cuts being made.
posted by bobo123 at 9:33 AM on March 30, 2005

I read Hard-Boiled Wonderland first and thought it was fantastic, but found the ending somewhat disappointing.

Based on that experience, I decided that Wind-Up Bird Chronicle would be worth a try. I loved the way it started, and the writing style, but found it more and more disappointing and less interesting as the book went on down to the point of the ending.

In conclusion, I think it will be some time before I read another Murakami book. Although that isn't necessarily never.
posted by grouse at 9:34 AM on March 30, 2005

I made a really big goof--it was A Wild Sheep Chase that I read, not Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. D'oh!
posted by grouse at 9:36 AM on March 30, 2005

i think you read one book by him, and learn that you're not necesarily going to get exactly what you expect. after that, you just enjoy it. that, at least, was my experience.

the idea that you don't ansewr all the questions is pretty common. paul auster is an american author that plays similar games, for example.
posted by andrew cooke at 10:09 AM on March 30, 2005

Try Norwegian Wood, his first big hit. No muddled magical realism. A bit sentimental, but still enjoyable.

I really liked the WWII parts of Wind-Up Bird, but not the other Twin Peaks-ish stuff, which get worse as the novel progresses.
posted by timnyc at 10:38 AM on March 30, 2005

It doesn't seem like there are many attempts at answering your questions, and since I finished the book about a month ago, I thought I'd take a shot. Also, it was hard for me to follow the WWII stuff, although I know that is important to Murakami and Japan, in trying to understand what happened in that war.

1) I think we underestimate the amazing diversity of foods in Japan. Aside from the spaghetti, he makes his own stir fry with tofu and vegetables which is not Western, and then there's beer and whisky, also popular in Japan. Which foods mystify you the most?

I don't think there is anything to read into the food, except that it is another atmospheric element built into the concept of his home with his wife. It is an element to watch as it progresses through the novel. The food fades away as the novel gets more fantastical.

2) I didn't really understand the significance of the May character, and she particularly annoyed me at the end. Murakami's view of females as fetishistic objects was particularly distracting to me. Every one of them fits into a mold--the betraying, sullen wife, the hot young girl, the powerful businesswoman, the mysterious prostitute, all attractive--where our main character is allowed to be aimless, messy, casual, really the only human figure. I think the women were used as tools, Sirens to guide the character, nothing more.

3) Fuck yea I would like to know the answer to this. Apparently it makes it more comprehensible.

4) I think the point of Murakami is to be atmospheric and very, very slow. The tone of the novel changed so gradually, so subtley, I hardly noticed it until I was in book three and thought back, realising how completely different that world was from the world in book one. Those who I know to have liked it liked its creepiness the most, as if it were a mystery novel.
posted by scazza at 12:31 PM on March 30, 2005

I'd recommend picking up Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words.

From what I know, Dunkin' Donuts are omnipresent in Japan, and I wouldn't read much into the "I" character of his novels eating there, except for the obvious: he likes donuts and coffee.

Having said that, it is interesting to note how many Murakami stories are food-centric, or at least spaghetti-centric. There is certainly a conflict between the complexity and ceremony of some of the more elaborate dishes that Murakami's characters eat and prepare (see the "I" character's "chubby" girlfriend in Hard-Boiled Wonderland), and the simple, decidedly Western fix of coffee and donuts.

As far as recommendations, Wind-Up is not my favorite Murakami, though I'd say he's one of my favorite writers. I'd say try Wild Sheep Chase. It's very different in tone from Wind-Up, and if you don't like it, maybe just give up on him.

I agree with the above sentiments that Kafka on the Shore was a terrible disappointment.
posted by Kafkaesque at 2:30 PM on March 30, 2005

From here: "1970 First overseas Dunkin' Donuts shop opens in Japan"

Also, I like wild sheep chase and its sequel dance dance dance best, though I like them all.

I don't think there is anything to read into the food

This may or may not be true, but it is worth noting that Hurukami spends a fair amount of time describing food in every novel of his that I've read. So I'd guess there is some significance to the food, even if the significance is just that he likes describing meals.
posted by advil at 2:42 PM on March 30, 2005

See also: Haruki Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle: A Reader's Guide

And the previously-linked translators' article discusses food issues a bit as well.
posted by sad_otter at 3:26 PM on March 30, 2005

Oh! And I would also really reccommend his short stories, The Elephant Vanishes. That is my favorite Murakami, short, more concise stories, tastes of different things, and even has the short story that started the WBC, but with some better, more intense, more moving differences. I also liked this a lot better than After the Quake.
posted by scazza at 3:30 PM on March 30, 2005

I read TWUBC first and everything subsequent work has been a bit of a letdown. I liked most of the others, but they didn't live up to what I thought was a great book. I also think the translator makes a world of difference. The books I read that weren't translated by Rubin seemed pale imitations. Might be coincidence.
posted by yerfatma at 5:13 PM on March 30, 2005

i think you read one book by him, and learn that you're not necesarily going to get exactly what you expect. after that, you just enjoy it. that, at least, was my experience.

I tend to agree. I also agree with Kafkaesque's advice to try Wild Sheep Chase -- if you dislike both TWUBC and WSC, you may just not like Murakami. The female characters are indeed a problem, though for some reason I hadn't been too much bothered by it until the trend was pointed out to me.
posted by redfoxtail at 7:06 PM on March 30, 2005

Thanks everyone!
posted by OmieWise at 6:11 AM on March 31, 2005