Book Report: The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

Thanks to the long weekend, I finished the 600-page tome.                                                    
                                                                                                             
The most memorable was the scene where "the man they call                  
Yamamoto" was skinned alive by the Soviet and his Mongolian                  
sidekick. There was scream but no surrender. The man was not                 
glorified in any way. Captured by the enemy, he simply died               
his extreme death. The next memorable were the deaths of the                  
four Manchukuo cadets (Chinese) for killing their Japanese                      
instructors. Three were executed via bayonets and one, their                
leader, via a baseball bat. Again, not much guesswork on how                 
they felt. The author didn't dwell on possible Stoic sentiments.                        
They simply took deaths as they came.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                             
The immediate effect after reading these stories was that this                  
Sunday morning, my long run didn't feel that painful, not even               
in the last mile. I had a poor sleep and the run didn't feel       
as good from the start. The joints hurt, sure. But what pain           
I was experiencing could be compared with what those guys                
went through?                                                                                                
                                                                                                             
(My run, in turn, seemed to affect Tim. He got out of bed, a little grumpy as usual, only when I came back.                                                                                                        
    "How's your run, dad?"                                                                                   
    "17 miles. I feel great!"                                                                                
    "I'm going to do my math."                                                                               
    "Good. You do your job and I do mine."                                                                   
Without another word (about Sunday or unfairness, e.g.) he finished his work.)                                                                 
                                                                                                             
The most memorable quote was: fact may not be truth, and                 
truth may not be factual. It was the assumption that the           
character "Cinnamon" had when he was trying to piece                
together stories from the past that led to his life.                                                                                                                               
    The question of which parts of a story were factual and            
    which parts were not was probably not a very important             
    one for Cinnamon. The important question for Cinnnamon                  
    was not what his grandfather DID but what his           
    grandfather MIGHT HAVE DONE.          
                                                                                                             
This seems to be a good reason for fiction.      
                                                                                                             
There was some worldly wisdom, too, through the hero's uncle:                
    Maybe he really did have a "magic touch," but he also             
    had a talent for finding capable people to work for him.           
    He paid them high salaries and treated them well, and             
    they in turn worked hard for him. "When I know I've got             
    the right guy, I put a wad of bills in his hand and let       
    him do his thing," he once told me. "You've got to spend              
    your money for the things that money can buy, not worry              
    about profit or loss. Save your energy for the things         
    that money can't buy."                                                                                   
                                                                                                             
This was the best Murakami book I've read so far.