Wade into Murakami's Dreamlike, Nightmarish "Wind Up Bird Chronicle"
Strange things happen in The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. Our protagonist runs into a psychic advisor who gives him vague warnings of future events, he begins having wet dreams for the first time ever - during a particularly tumultuous time in his marriage, and his beloved cat of 7 years has gone missing. As I waded into the dreamlike (and at times nightmarish) world of Murakami’s acclaimed novel I quickly became engrossed in the story of our main character, Toru Okada. Toru, a passive man in his late 20’s has recently quit his job at a law firm where he worked as a paralegal. He once had ambitions of taking the BAR exam, but now unemployed, he stays at home and handles the house work. His wife Kumiko works for a publishing house and is the breadwinner of the two. Able to get by on Kumiko’s salary and a small inheritance, Toru has no plans of regaining employment. At home he cooks, cleans, reads and relaxes. He doesn’t leave the house except for laundry and groceries and genuinely enjoys
