Cinammon Akasaka - the son of Nutmeg. He does not speak but uses a strange form of sign language to communicate. He carries out the wishes of his mother but is exceptionally good at what he does and what he does involves looking out for Toru on many levels. Like so many of Murakami's previous stories, ``Wind-Up Bird'' is part detective story, part Bildungsroman, part fairy tale, part science-fiction-meets-Lewis Carroll. Like ``A Wild Sheep Chase'' and ``Dance Dance Dance,'' Don't be silly," I replied. "I'm sure it's having a grand old time somewhere. It'll get hungry and come home soon. The same thing happened once before, remember? When we lived in Koenji . . ." Alienation: Throughout the novel the characters are obviously related to each other but they never feel like they connect to one another. All of the characters develop independently and tend to live solitary lifestyles. This can be presented in Toru and Kumiko's marriage. Throughout the novel, Toru presents himself to be one who seeks solitude. One example is presented as he completes an everyday task, "I went to the Municipal pool for a swim. Mornings were the best, to avoid the crowds". [7] His desire for solitude also is shown when he quits his job to take care of the house alone while Kumiko goes to work. He enjoys being home alone. In the relationship between Kumiko and Toru, both characters seem to be developing in solitude. Both characters hide many of their thoughts from one another and even though they are married Toru ponders on the fact that he may not know much about his wife. [8] So was our love of Murakami, like sushi bars, no more than a passing vogue? John Wray, who interviewed Murakami in 2004 for the Paris Review, offers an answer. "Murakami's world is an allegorical one, constructed of familiar symbols – an empty well, an underground city – but the meaning of those symbols remains hermetic to the last. His debt to popular culture notwithstanding, it could be argued that no author's body of work has ever been more private."

this unpleasant place as soon as possible. Aside from the statue, the garden had no decorative features. A pile of aging plastic lawn chairs stood against the house, and beside them an azalea bush displayed its bright-red blossoms, their Why had Kumiko been frequenting such a place? I myself had walked down that "alley" no more than twice, and Kumiko was afraid of spiders at the best of times. Oh, what the hell-if Kumiko said I should go to the alley and look forMalta Kano - acts as a medium. Kumiko hires her to help them find their cat. She sees things, but she's not all that clear when she translates it to those who need the information.

disappears, Toru's wife Kumiko vanishes as well, and he is forced to reassess the state of their marriage, even as he begins to try to find her. I stood and glanced toward the house, where there was no sign of a human presence. The bay window reflected the glare of the western sun. I gave up waiting and crossed the lawn to the alley, returning home. I hadn't found the cat, but

Toru invites Mamiya to his house and asks him about his time in the war with Mr. Honda. Mamiya tells Toru about his experience in the Nomonhan Incident, which took place during the Battles of Khalkhin Gol. Mamiya and Honda were part of a secret mission that required them to cross into Soviet and Mongolian territory. However, their mission failed when the enemy (the Mongolians) caught them. Honda and Mamiya watched a Mongolian soldier skin their leader alive. Afterward, the Mongolians threw Mamiya down a dry well and remained there for three days before Honda rescued him. Mamiya tells Toru that the well was pure torture, though the experience did result in a brief sensation of enlightenment about his place in the world. Afterward telling Toru his story, Mamiya gives Toru his gift from Honda, which turns out to be an empty box.

Yeah, sure, for the school newspaper: which team won the soccer championship or how the physics teacher fell down the stairs and ended up in the hospital-that kind of stuff. Not poetry. I can't write poetry." and part of 17; and Book 3 Chapter 26). [9] Combining the original three-volumes (Japanese) would have been too long, and so the publisher requested that ~25,000 words be cut for the English translation, even though Rubin had presented them a complete translation along with the requested abridged version. [10] This time's different," she said. "This time you're wrong. I know it. The cat's dead. It's rotting in a clump of grass. Did you look in the grass in the vacant house?" minutes? Come to think of it, she seemed awfully sure about those ten minutes: it was the first thing out of her mouth. As if nine minutes would be too short or eleven minutes too long. Like cooking spaghetti al dente. She took the finger from my wrist and drank down the rest of her cola. I knew the glass was empty from the sound of the ice.That's all I think about these days. Must be because I have so much time to kill every day. When you don't have anything to do, your thoughts get really, really far out-so far out you can't follow them all the way to the Following Toru’s latest trip down the well, the mark on his face disappears. Because of this, Nutmeg tells Toru that they can no longer work together. The following day, she leaves, and Toru never sees her again. Not long afterward, Toru receives another letter from Kumiko. Kumiko tells Toru that her first letter was a lie. She did not have sex with another man; she had sex with many other men. She does not know why she acted the way she did and is deeply ashamed of herself. She tells Toru that she thinks her problems stem from Noboru. Additionally, she says that she plans to go to Noboru’s hospital room, shut off his life support, and turn herself in to the police.

She stood there thinking for ten or fifteen seconds, her hand still resting on the gate. Then she dropped what was left of her cigarette and crushed it under her sandal. Who said this: "Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed"?/Aw, crap, I was spacing out, and he totally caught me... Right over there is where the cats go through," she said, pointing toward the far side of the lawn. "See the incinerator in the Takitanis' yard? They come under the fence at that point, cut across the grass, and go outShe perched her sunglasses on her forehead, squinted at the yard, and lowered her glasses again, exhaling a cloud of smoke. In the interval, I saw that she had a two-inch cut next to her left eye-the kind of cut that would probably leave a best Asian novels of all time". The Telegraph. April 22, 2014. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020 . Retrieved December 6, 2020.