Appreciation post: Picked 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle' over 'Kafka on the Shore' for our club last month

I was stuck between Murakami's two big ones. The club vote was split so I had to choose which one to pitch. I went with Wind-Up Bird because I heard the story loops around more. It worked out - we had 3 people quit halfway through but the rest of us had a solid 2 hour debate about the well scene. Has anyone else had a pick that seemed risky but paid off?

3 comments

3 Comments

grantmartinez26d ago

Man that's exactly like how some friendships work, right? You take a risk by being honest about something weird and a few people drift away, but the ones who stay end up way closer than before. It's like the book itself is filtering out who's actually going to vibe with you in the long run.

elliot_johnson3126d ago

Three people quitting halfway through sounds like a win for the folks who stayed. Seems dramatic to call it a book "filtering" people out when maybe they just didn't dig the weird pacing or the cat talking. I get liking the well scene but let's not act like finishing a novel is the same as surviving some big test of friendship.

king.aaron26d ago

Hate that you lost three people but honestly that's kind of the risk with Murakami. I picked "Hard-Boiled Wonderland" for my group once and two people dropped out by chapter three because of the weird split narrative. The rest of us ended up loving how it all connected though. The well scene is worth the gamble in my book.

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