--- product_id: 79125735 title: "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" price: "€ 17.65" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.pt/products/79125735-the-wind-up-bird-chronicle store_origin: PT region: Portugal --- # 2-year story timeline multi-layered reality & identity 600+ pages immersive narrative The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle **Price:** € 17.65 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 📖 Unlock the surreal — where mystery, fate, and Tokyo collide. ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - **How much does it cost?** € 17.65 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.pt](https://www.desertcart.pt/products/79125735-the-wind-up-bird-chronicle) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Cult Status Bestseller:** Ranked top 70 in multiple fantasy categories, with over 11,000 reviews averaging 4.4 stars. - • **Epic Length, Deep Dive:** Over 600 pages of surreal, philosophical storytelling that demands your full attention. - • **Time-Bending Narrative:** Experience a two-year journey through Tokyo’s mysterious suburbs, blending past and present. - • **Reality Meets Surrealism:** Navigate a porous boundary between reality and meta-reality with mesmerizing characters and plot twists. - • **Philosophical & Psychological:** Explore profound themes of fate, identity, and existence that resonate with the modern seeker. ## Overview Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a critically acclaimed, genre-defying novel blending fantasy, military history, and psychological drama. Spanning over 600 pages, it follows Toru Okada’s bizarre quest triggered by his missing cat and wife’s distance, unraveling layered realities and philosophical questions about fate and identity. A cult bestseller with a 4.4-star rating from over 11,000 readers, it’s a must-read for those craving a deep, immersive literary experience. ## Description *PRE-ORDER HARUKI MURAKAMI’S NEW NOVEL, THE CITY AND ITS UNCERTAIN WALLS , NOW* Toru Okada's cat has disappeared. His wife is growing more distant every day. Then there are the increasingly explicit telephone calls he has recently been 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. 'Visionary...a bold and generous book' New York Times 'Murakami weaves textured layers of reality into a shot-silk garment of deceptive beauty' Independent on Sunday 'Deeply philosophical and teasingly perplexing, it is impossible to put down' Daily Telegraph 'Mesmerising, surreal, this really is the work of a true original' The Times Review: 5/5 - The book is narrated by Toru Okada, a jobless dude, who lives with his wife. He likes spaghetti and lemon drops. He gets bizarre calls at home. One day, their cat disappears, so Toru goes out to look for it. What follows is a series of strange characters and stranger incidents, in the past and in the present, that turn Toru's life upside down. After the disappearance of the cat, it becomes quite difficult to describe what this book is about, and I think that's an appropriate metaphor for our lackluster protagonist's life, because it's hard to figure out why certain things happened. Did his descent into darkness begin with the disappearance of the cat? Was it because of a secret his wife had been hiding? Or did it have its roots in the WWII? These are questions I cannot answer, and I believe that Murakami never wanted the reader to answer them. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle is loaded with engaging philosophies of life, death and identity. The boundary between reality and meta-reality is permeable and malleable. At the core, this book seems to be an exploration of fate. Toru moves from passivity to activity as he struggles to engage with destiny or bend fate to his own needs. There are so many aspects to the story that move the characters outside of their own willpower, and it was fun to watch the struggle. The writing is lively, the dialogue is crisp, and the characters are mesmerising. Review: Little Dragged but takes you on a whole new level of weirdness - 🍋When Life gives you lemons, can you really make Lemonade? . A Japanese Cryptographer from the army was once sent to Western Manchuria. He travelled with three others, one being a disguised senior officer and two other juniors. The senior on reaching the location acquired an important scroll that was believed to save Japan. One fateful night on their return, they were captured by Mongols and two other soldiers from Soviet. By the time Cryptographer woke up from his sleep, one of his teammates vanished into thin air, another was already dead, he senior was being skinned like a goat and he laid as a mass of flesh. When the enemy realised these did not process the important documents, they let go of the soldier. They spared his life by throwing him in an old well. It was a desert, nobody would possibly find him there, he was supposed to die a slow death of hunger and thirst. . What changed him, was the well. Despite the plunging darkness and unaware of earthly time, he stayed there at the bottom of the earth assuming there would possibly be a saviour. . What was so special about the depths and crawling darkness? . 50 years later, now a high school teacher, he happens to meet a Youngster in his 30, Mr Toru Okada. Mr Okada is in search of his existence. He quit his job in a law firm, his only goals are to search his missing cat, Noburu Wataya, whom he has named after his brother in law. Get his wife's laundry, cook and clean. . Death of an acquaintance brings both together. They exchange life stories thus unfolds a series of unknown and weirdest events. . This is my first #Murakami The title makes sense after a few pages. One day when nothing goes right, Okada finds himself in his neighbour's empty well looking for what the soldier believed. The term must be "Hope" . Wind up bird is what Mr Okada believes winds the spring of nature and keeps earthmoving, he calls himself "wind up the bird". That summarised the painting, "bird in the well". . Stories from Japanese history and a weird bewitched plot in #Tokyo Suburbs. Men and women from different walks of life, exchanging stories. The story is a chronology of two years divided into three parts. . Apart from wonderful translation, weirdest plot twists, amazing story, I noticed it was quite repetitive. Stories kept repeating page by page. 600 pages worth of Wonderful ride into fantasy, nightmares, psychological games and a confused man. This sort of disappointed me and I was determined to finish it..like a compulsion rather read with interest. Yet This should not keep you away from the fact the story is engaging and exciting. ## Features - This product will be an excellent pick for you. - It comes in a proper packaging. - It ensures you get the best usage for a longer period ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #7,737 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #62 in Military Fantasy (Books) #66 in Fantasy Anthologies #67 in Paranormal Fantasy (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 11,277 Reviews | ## Images ![The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71GtJIryZJL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 *by P***K on 5 August 2019* The book is narrated by Toru Okada, a jobless dude, who lives with his wife. He likes spaghetti and lemon drops. He gets bizarre calls at home. One day, their cat disappears, so Toru goes out to look for it. What follows is a series of strange characters and stranger incidents, in the past and in the present, that turn Toru's life upside down. After the disappearance of the cat, it becomes quite difficult to describe what this book is about, and I think that's an appropriate metaphor for our lackluster protagonist's life, because it's hard to figure out why certain things happened. Did his descent into darkness begin with the disappearance of the cat? Was it because of a secret his wife had been hiding? Or did it have its roots in the WWII? These are questions I cannot answer, and I believe that Murakami never wanted the reader to answer them. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle is loaded with engaging philosophies of life, death and identity. The boundary between reality and meta-reality is permeable and malleable. At the core, this book seems to be an exploration of fate. Toru moves from passivity to activity as he struggles to engage with destiny or bend fate to his own needs. There are so many aspects to the story that move the characters outside of their own willpower, and it was fun to watch the struggle. The writing is lively, the dialogue is crisp, and the characters are mesmerising. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Little Dragged but takes you on a whole new level of weirdness *by A***E on 13 September 2020* 🍋When Life gives you lemons, can you really make Lemonade? . A Japanese Cryptographer from the army was once sent to Western Manchuria. He travelled with three others, one being a disguised senior officer and two other juniors. The senior on reaching the location acquired an important scroll that was believed to save Japan. One fateful night on their return, they were captured by Mongols and two other soldiers from Soviet. By the time Cryptographer woke up from his sleep, one of his teammates vanished into thin air, another was already dead, he senior was being skinned like a goat and he laid as a mass of flesh. When the enemy realised these did not process the important documents, they let go of the soldier. They spared his life by throwing him in an old well. It was a desert, nobody would possibly find him there, he was supposed to die a slow death of hunger and thirst. . What changed him, was the well. Despite the plunging darkness and unaware of earthly time, he stayed there at the bottom of the earth assuming there would possibly be a saviour. . What was so special about the depths and crawling darkness? . 50 years later, now a high school teacher, he happens to meet a Youngster in his 30, Mr Toru Okada. Mr Okada is in search of his existence. He quit his job in a law firm, his only goals are to search his missing cat, Noburu Wataya, whom he has named after his brother in law. Get his wife's laundry, cook and clean. . Death of an acquaintance brings both together. They exchange life stories thus unfolds a series of unknown and weirdest events. . This is my first #Murakami The title makes sense after a few pages. One day when nothing goes right, Okada finds himself in his neighbour's empty well looking for what the soldier believed. The term must be "Hope" . Wind up bird is what Mr Okada believes winds the spring of nature and keeps earthmoving, he calls himself "wind up the bird". That summarised the painting, "bird in the well". . Stories from Japanese history and a weird bewitched plot in #Tokyo Suburbs. Men and women from different walks of life, exchanging stories. The story is a chronology of two years divided into three parts. . Apart from wonderful translation, weirdest plot twists, amazing story, I noticed it was quite repetitive. Stories kept repeating page by page. 600 pages worth of Wonderful ride into fantasy, nightmares, psychological games and a confused man. This sort of disappointed me and I was determined to finish it..like a compulsion rather read with interest. Yet This should not keep you away from the fact the story is engaging and exciting. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A good read *by J***Y on 7 June 2026* Just another masterpiece by Murakami!! --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.pt/products/79125735-the-wind-up-bird-chronicle](https://www.desertcart.pt/products/79125735-the-wind-up-bird-chronicle) --- *Product available on Desertcart Portugal* *Store origin: PT* *Last updated: 2026-07-08*