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Lately I decided to try read something different in the sense of topics I usually feel comfortable with. I don’t really know why but I picked Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I had heard a lot of good things about this author and his never-fulfilled Nobel aspirations, but I didn’t really check what his books are about. I just went into a bookstore, found ‘M’ in the aisle and picked the first Haruki’s book I spotted. And I don’t regret it.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle story arc is settled in 1984-1985 Japan and tells a story of Toru Okada who is also the narrator. He’s ordinary life quickly changes with a reader’s progress through the pages of the book and the story itself teaches us how chaotic and messed up life really is. How unbelievably unpredictable is the next day and even next second. How nonsense and wishful is to try to plan anything far ahead. Together with such topic, there are clearly important themes which intertwine throughout the whole 3-part book: Desire, Power, Polar opposites and Alienation.
For me, one of the most important aspects of the first person narrator books is if I can relate to the main character in any way or if I can have any feelings towards him (doesn’t matter if it’s hate or sympathy). And Toru Okada is someone with whom I felt a sort of bond you can rarely create with fictional character. I felt his pain with my own heart and I was rooting for him whilst reading each word of the story. I could relate to the plenty of situations and reflect on my own life because of this. I wish I could really met him and see how his life looks nowadays.
When it comes to the story itself it revolves solely around Toru Okada’s life and the problems he must face. Although in the first glance it may seem really boring, as he is just a relatively young man living in suburban Japan, it is the opposite. A lot of unheard of things may happen if you have an abandoned house with an old well in your neighbourhood.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle has everything you can really wish for while picking a new book. Interesting and remarkable story, relatable characters, events and feelings. Mysterious atmosphere and tense, rising action. And bizarreness. Bizarreness everywhere. I can strongly recommend it regardless of your book taste.

Lately I decided to try read something different in the sense of topics I usually feel comfortable with. I don’t really know why but I picked Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I had heard a lot of good things about this author and his never-fulfilled Nobel aspirations, but I didn’t really check what his books are about. I just went into a bookstore, found ‘M’ in...

I have read “The Hunger Games” over the past few days and it is, for sure, one of the best mainstream novels ever and I could easily coax someone to try it just because of its popularity. However, as I found out, the fame is a result of something more. Engrossing story written by Suzanne Collins makes you eager to read “just one more chapter”. Makes you to forget who you are and dive deeply into the world of that book. It creates some sort of connection between you and Katniss – main character whom with you would like to fight shoulder by shoulder.
One of the main variables that made me love this book is Katniss as a character. She is neither a superhero nor semi-god, but extremely normal human being with many flaws and some talents, sometimes falling into despair. The way Suzanne Collins have created her, pushes me closer to calling Katniss a person. What is more, each of the significant characters is portrayed equally believably and so it is with groups of people, societies.
As if having such an exceptionally real character would not be enough, book’s world is as believable as Katniss. Creation of Panem is just on the centre of the nail and, alas, might be the reflection of our future. Not necessarily entirely, but there are terrifying parts which made me question at least some of today’s world’s directions. Perhaps humanity is not onto a good thing. I find afterthoughts over myself and our society quite common after reading “The Hunger Games”.
We have extraordinarily believable world filled with original characters. As if all that were not enough, we also have touching dilemmas and real struggles. Obstacles on Katniss’ path are so tough to see around that even as a reader – having infinite amount of time to solve the problem, to foresee what is going to happen and what is the best choice in particular fork of events – I often had a hard time figuring out the solution. Put all the above into awesome story wrapped by the outstanding plot and boom, you have got a bestseller. And has “The Hunger Games” been put in such? Course it has. What is more, its strands seem to start spicing up and I cannot wait to read Catching Fire to find out what is going to happen.
Unfortunately, there is always two sides to every story and “The Hunger Games” novel has its flaws. Not the big ones, only a few and are more or less products of my subjective opinion. The first and major thing I did not like was the wearing on time when Katniss and Peeta were bouncing back in their cave. For me it felt like this part could have been compressed into at least half of its original page count without novel losing on quality or events. However, this would be forgivable if only all the other parts were given proper amount of focus. But they were not. I can point out a few events that are important and could have been juiced a lot more, but instead were nearly skipped. For instance, when Katniss kills Rue’s murderer or does Cato in, or when she actually wins the games. Those moments are crying out for long Katniss’ feelings description and they are not getting it.
Those two flaws I find the most disturbing, but the Clove’s speech beats them with ease in the competition for the most annoying. I get the concept why Clove was gloating over her prey, but I think it was stretched too much to be believable and thus destroyed the whole charm of the novel. Action of that scene made it so Katniss should have died there and that did not happen, making her another typical novel character which lives thanks to enemy’s speech. For me, wrestle between Katniss and Clove is the detail that made the wall between Katniss and real world.
Originally, I was going to say, it is the Katniss’ luck I did not like, but after giving it some more thought, I honestly think there was not too much of it. What is more, some luck is essential for the story to be believable and liked. A character without a head start that is sometimes getting lucky and, thanks to it, successful, is naturally getting closer to our hearts. Additionally, the following has to be said. We, as humans, really like stories that involve luck, struggle and win against the odds.
When it comes to the vocabulary and readability for the people whom English is not their first language, I would highly recommend reading “The Hunger Games”. It is not written in the standard past tense but in present which makes it even easier for foreigners. The book is great and teaches you extremely useful vocabulary related mostly to motion, everyday life, health and wilderness. You can find plenty of commonly used phrases and idioms. Despite having to constantly translate and sometimes look through many dictionaries, I have been flowing through pages like the water in its bed.
Summing up all the above, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that “The Hunger Games” is well and truly different in a good way. Its strong advantage is that all the aspects of its fictional world seem plausible. Seamless dive into Panem happen each time you open the book and that is one of the reasons why I can truly recommend “The Hunger Games” to you. Get your own copy here and have a great time reading!

I have read “The Hunger Games” over the past few days and it is, for sure, one of the best mainstream novels ever and I could easily coax someone to try it just because of its popularity. However, as I found out, the fame is a result of something more. Engrossing story written by Suzanne Collins makes you eager to read “just one more chapter”. Makes you to forget who you...

Przyjemna, szybka w lekturze książka. Polecam każdemu miłośnikowi kotów.

Przyjemna, szybka w lekturze książka. Polecam każdemu miłośnikowi kotów.