The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle cover art

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

By: Haruki Murakami
Narrated by: Rupert Degas
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Toru Okada's cat has disappeared, and this has unsettled his wife, who is herself growing more distant every day. Then there are the increasingly explicit telephone calls he has started receiving. As this compelling story unfolds, the tidy suburban realities of Okada's vague and blameless life, spent cooking, reading, listening to jazz and opera and drinking beer at the kitchen table, are turned inside out and he embarks on a bizarre journey, guided (however obscurely) by a succession of characters, each with a tale to tell.

©1994 Haruki Murakami (P)2020 Penguin Audio Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Magical Realism Fantasy Magic Mind-bending

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All stars
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I know people have different tastes. It makes the world interesting. So I would understand someone saying they don’t like an interpretation. It often happens that we read a book and the voices are branded into our consciousness and other people’s interpretations sound wrong. I get that. But I cannot understand those who berate this performer for what is clearly a brilliant (in every sense of the word) narration. The range is staggering. The characterisation is stunning: male, female, old and young alike.

As for the novel, it is Murakami’s wild imagination on day release. Bizarre and wonderful and weird and thrilling.

And it is very well read, honestly. I’m not lying.

Great reading - truly.

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Just amazing! Took me a while to get into the story but so glad I persevered. I think the narrator was a big part of what kept me listening. Such a performer with a myriad of characters to cover. Can't even begin to explain what it's about. Just thoroughly enjoyed the journey abd was sad when it ended.

Didn't want it to end!

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I loved the characters. I, honestly, couldn't stop listening. Rupert Degas is the best. Period.

Great Story, Great Narration.

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Interesting book, "very Japanese" if that makes sense, but too much of a "visual" descriptions makes it unacceptable for some.

Japanese illusion of consciousness

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Loved the book - so dreamlike and weird and intriguing. Every character in it was interesting . Great narrator too.

Brilliant book

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