LoT Book CLub - Book 2 - Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

[Not Afraid]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

Toru is also extremely isolated and completely the nexus of the characters in the book. Other than one session where both Norubu and Malta are present and the dual character of Cinnamon and Nutmeg, no person in the book with whom Toru interacts ever interacts with another person.

May never interacts with Kumiko never interacts with Creta never interacts with Cinnamon/Nutmeg never interacts with Lt. Miyami, and so on. Past interactions are mentioned but never observed directly.

No character in the story could, if questioned, directly confirm the existence of any other character.

Which raises for me the possibility that none of the events described really happened. That it is all just the metaphorical coping of a man who has learned his wife was unfaithful and waiting to see how they cope with that.

But that's most likely going to far.

Interesting line of thought. It beings to mind the several references to imagination that are brought up in the third part - one is in reference to Mayama and Boris the Manskinner and their relationship, the other is between Toru and the "other" Kumiko in their final encounter in room 208. Oh, to have a searchable copy of the book.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

Oh, to have a searchable copy of the book.

Here you go.

[Not Afraid]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

Here you go.

Eh, that's only selections. "No references to imagination found".

teeheehee. No imagination found.

[Alex]

The word "imagination" appears on pages 63, 156, 268, 374, 405, 471, 472, 552, 555, 560, 562, 578, 579, 580, 584, 588.

The instances surrouding page 579 are the ones in the coversation between Toru and the other Kumiko.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

Interesting line of thought. It beings to mind the several references to imagination that are brought up in the third part - one is in reference to Mayama and Boris the Manskinner and their relationship, the other is between Toru and the "other" Kumiko in their final encounter in room 208. Oh, to have a searchable copy of the book.

Early on, having had the same lament for M. Bovary, I began taking careful notes of things that caught my interest. Unfortunately 1) it slowed my reading down, so I abandoned it and 2) I've already loaned my copy out, so if I just wrote down a page reference and not a full quote, I'm out of luck.

That being said, here are a few bits I wrote down. Nothing particularly enlightening in terms of digesting the whole book, I'm more drawn to little bits of observational wisdom:

* I found very vivid and familiar the description in chapter 2 of the ettiquette of cooking dinner and waiting before eating until your spouse comes home, even if they are late. You know you're not required to wait, but you do anyway. Of course, that was immediately followed by obvious clues that she was cheating on him, so it was also quite heartbreaking.

* I reference page 33, in chapter 3. He described the torture of being interupted during some long internal train of thought, and never being able to figure out what it was that you were thinking about. I HATE that.

* "If the Dali Lama were on his death bed and the jazz musician Eric Dolphy were to try to explain to him the importance of changing one's engine oil in accordance with changes in the sound of the bass clarinet, that exchange might have been a touch more worthwhile and effective than my conversations with Noboru Wataya." Ha!!! Freaking love that.

*Book 2, Chapter 10 (page 258), May posits that high concepts only exist because death exists. Without death, we'd have no urgency, and no reason to care what life's all about. There's always be time for that later.

* While Mayama was in the well, he asks, "What's the essential difference between 11 hours and 23 hours?"

Like I said, nothing earth shattering, but the two Murakami books I've read are rife with those little gems that make me pause and appreciate his insight.

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

That being said, here are a few bits I wrote down. Nothing particularly enlightening in terms of digesting the whole book, I'm more drawn to little bits of observational wisdom:

* I found very vivid and familiar the description in chapter 2 of the ettiquette of cooking dinner and waiting before eating until your spouse comes home, even if they are late. You know you're not required to wait, but you do anyway. Of course, that was immediately followed by obvious clues that she was cheating on him, so it was also quite heartbreaking.

* I reference page 33, in chapter 3. He described the torture of being interupted during some long internal train of thought, and never being able to figure out what it was that you were thinking about. I HATE that.

* "If the Dali Lama were on his death bed and the jazz musician Eric Dolphy were to try to explain to him the importance of changing one's engine oil in accordance with changes in the sound of the bass clarinet, that exchange might have been a touch more worthwhile and effective than my conversations with Noboru Wataya." Ha!!! Freaking love that.

*Book 2, Chapter 10 (page 258), May posits that high concepts only exist because death exists. Without death, we'd have no urgency, and no reason to care what life's all about. There's always be time for that later.

* While Mayama was in the well, he asks, "What's the essential difference between 11 hours and 23 hours?"

Like I said, nothing earth shattering, but the two Murakami books I've read are rife with those little gems that make me pause and appreciate his insight.

I love all of these, especailly the one I bolded - been one of my philosophical precepts for ages, so it made me smile when I read it again.