The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

 

Toru Okada is figuring out what comes next in his life.  He has recently left his job in a lawyer's office and is deciding what he wants to do.  His wife Kumiko is supporting them.  The couple has been married for six years and they live in his uncle's house with their cat.  The cat goes missing and as Toru looks for it, he finds an abandoned house and meets a teenage neighbor girl, May.  

Then tragedy strikes.  His wife leaves for work one morning and doesn't return.  She eventually writes and tells him that she has left him for another man but Toru wants to talk with her.  He feels there is more to the story but she is being kept away by her brother, an up and coming politician who Toru despises.  Toru meets an older gentleman who is sent his way by a psychic Toru and Kumiko had befriended.  The man tells Toru a story of his time in the military and being thrown down a well from which he barely escapes with his life.

Toru remembers that the abandoned house has an old dry well and he decides to go down and think about his life.  He gets down easily but then May comes along and takes away his ladder and he is imprisoned there.  He thinks about his life and marriage and about a strange pair of sisters he has recently met who seem to be part of the issue as they have connections with the brother-in-law.  Eventually, Toru is able to get out of the well.  He meets a mother and son who buy the house and start a business where Toru helps women with migraines and tension.  As Toru continues his life, he remains adamant that he wants to bring Kumiko hack but can he?

This is a famous book by the author who is one of the best known Japanese authors.  It is not a straightforward telling of a story but more of a dreamlike one, with items thrown out and then eventually woven in chapters later.  It all ends up connecting but it is unclear at the end of the book where Toru's life will take him next.  This book, considered a masterpiece, is recommended for readers of literary fiction.