You know how sometimes there are those zoo animals that are so bizarre-looking they're almost cute? The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is kind of like that. Parts of it are endearing--it has characters who are quirky and memorable, plot sequences that are captivating and dream-like. But it's also a whole lot weird. You think the story is actually going somewhere, that the nature of the book's mysteries will be revealed and the inexplicable twists will start to make some sense, but nope. At the end of the day it's just a giant bucket of nonsense. 
 But with quirky, memorable characters and captivating, dream-like plot sequences!!