Tim's Reviews > Hear the Wind Sing

A brief note before we begin, this review may (or may not) be revised later. I’ve written it while suffering from major jet-lag (literally traveled for 30 hours, and went through a 11 hour time change in the process). For all I know, it may only make sense to me as the person who wrote it and be absolutely incomprehensible to everyone else. If so, consider it a rather parallel to the novel itself. :)

For those of you who have ever endeavored to write a novel, I feel your pain. That moment of putting everything into a work, only to read it and realize that it sounded much better in your head, I know the feeling well. I have numerous stories stored away in a box because part of me loves them, but also needs to keep them far away and out of sight. Those of you who give those a read every once in a while and wonder “why bother?” let me offer one note of encouragement to you: Murakami is pretty much an international literary rock star, and he wrote this book first. So, you know, there is hope.

Now that I’ve offered that rather intimidating start, let me say that this isn’t really a bad book… it’s just not a very good one. I fully admit that I gave it three stars on account of a fascination aspect, and not because it is “good.” It’s interesting to see the start of an author I will come to respect, in pure amateur mode. I mean, you see ideas he will go on to play with and perfect, and there are little moments of genius here and there, but this is not the Murakami I love. This is very much someone still trying to find a voice. It is pretty much the definition of a first novel; it is mostly plotless, yet still full of holes, unanswered questions, a rambling nature and some just downright weird choices.

As someone who started reading Murakami with The Wild Sheep Chase, it is quite interesting to see early versions of those characters… it’s also weird seeing how tonally different the first novel is compared to the third. This strange little slice of life story will somehow evolve in a future book to a borderline metaphysical noir.

Is this a book I can recommend? Only to those who already have a firm grasp on Murakami’s work, as it’s mostly a curiosity; something to read after you’ve gone through his major works, and want to see where many of the ideas began. For those who fit into that category, you’ll probably find it a fascinating quick read.