The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

I really messed myself by trying to do this book on audio. The audio was awful, and yet somehow I made it 75% of the way through. The narrator was a British/Australian voicing his Japanese characters with American accents. Worse, there was one (frequent character) who sounded like a South Park character, and the end of the audio for me was a Gilbert Godfrey voice. The guy just overdid every character. I picked up the print version for the last 25% of the book and I wish I\’d read the whole thing. As far as the story goes, I liked it OK. Didn\’t love it. So much of it was dreams or dream like. And a lot of those dreams were wet dreams (Sorry.) There\’s a cat and a wife, a neighbor and a well. Random war stories, a politician brother, and psychic sisters Malta and Creta. I didn\’t \”get it\”. I think if this is your first Murakami it could be great and could really grab you because it is unique, but I\’ve read a lot of Murakami and it just didn\’t do anything for me. I think I\’m done with Murakami for now.

This book is so good and I was totally wrapped up in it the whole time. It kept me engaged from start to finish. The vivid imagery was so effective and everything that happened kept me asking questions. It was so good that I could tough it out with Rupert Degas. Good lord. Why do narrators have to do voices? I looked it up and he does like kids shows voice overs too. It shows. Some characters were okay, but some others were just gearing beyond belief to the point I had to ask what fevered part of this persons brain decided that this voice was a good call? I get that an audiobook is a different product than a book, so you have to accept that the way its read and the way youve decided to take in the information effects your interpretation of the story. So, I want to give some room for okay and accept that the story might sound differently than how it might in my head. But, I could not find any a real understanding for some of the garishly cartoonish voices used for some of the characters, especially the women.

Murakami\’s books are all consuming and create a multicolored and multi-textured faceted immersive world. He crafts characters, environments and existential journeys that can seem both real, and dreamlike. I realize that reading a book then listening to it by a specific narrator is bound to create two different experiences, and I was ready for that. I hoped it would help me integrate and round out more thoroughly a book, with which I was already in love. What I wasn\’t ready for, was Rupert Degas\’ inconsequential treatment of finely developed characters. I have a hard time believing that Murakami would have approved of Degas treatment of Mr. Honda, May Kasahara and Nutmeg. In fact most of the female characters, at best, seem ill conceived or misunderstood and at worst denigrating and demeaning. I\’ve always thought that Murakami communicates ephemeral and subversive ideas through important and subtle female roles. Degas\’ voice for May is probably the worst aesthetic decision made by the narrator, because she sets an underlying emotional atmosphere where where Toru\’s can subtly evolve safely. The chosen voice is childish, single faceted and skewed in a weirdly stereotypical way. May\’s character, I had previously perceived, as a somewhat jaded, quiet spoken, playful projection of Murakami\’s desire to prod the Toru character. She does this as a precocious yet physically underdeveloped teen who is older than her body would have us believe. In my mind, this was a hint that her role was incredibly important to Toru\’s transition. She epitomizes the outside world that Toru rejects, a world that doesn\’t necessarily hate him but toys with and discombobulates him. The grating, immature, nasally, whining voice created by Degas is assaulting. It\’s a half baked assault that makes any of May\’s carefully written dialogue a travesty. I wish I had never heard it and it colors my ability to integrate and understand her character, at all. I love this book but, wow, now I may have to go back and re-read her part to complete some thoughts about the message. Btw, Nutmeg\’s voice is simply unbearable, for different reasons. Oh, and same thing for Mr. Honda, I had to turn the volume down for him. Sheesh!

Please tell male narrators that womens voices aren\’t all high pitched and breathy. It is almost impossible to listen to these \”female\” voices. If there needs to be a vocal change, hire a women to play a woman. I finished reading the book because the \”female\” voices in this recording are incredibly grating. I am a women and all of the \”female voices\” in this reading sound like a man trying to imitate a small child. I can\’t take it.

The female voices did leave a bit to be desired, but it did not distract me from the writing and the voice of the protagonist was excellent. This was really engaging writing with a big dose of magical realism which both resonated honesty while being over-to-top extraordinary. I really loved the protagonist as he deals with real-life issues as he smoothly flows into a world of magic, inner life, and visions. It is almost unbelievable this is a translation. The writing feels so personal, which can get lost in translations. I will likely listen to this book again.

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