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A review by stephdavis
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I’ve never found it so hard to rate a book in my life.
On one hand, Murakami’s writing (and therefore Ruben’s translation) is so evocative and transportive, I feel an innate understanding of early 1970s Japan. It also means I find myself feeling complete sympathy for all his emotionally traumatised characters at first.
However, if any of these characters were to be a real person telling me their stories, nine times out of ten I’d be horrified (one time in particular). Watanabe, our narrator, is so deeply insular it could be described as narcissistic, but has no issue spending time commenting on everyone else’s flaws. I was at a constant back and forth about if I loved or hated his character.
In addition, the constant reference to sex is quite jarring and (while I’m no prude) feels like it takes away from what is otherwise a deeply philosophical perspective of love, life and death.
Overall, I couldn’t put it down, but I also couldn’t stop myself from thinking, “what the fuck?”. I’m still confused.
On one hand, Murakami’s writing (and therefore Ruben’s translation) is so evocative and transportive, I feel an innate understanding of early 1970s Japan. It also means I find myself feeling complete sympathy for all his emotionally traumatised characters at first.
However, if any of these characters were to be a real person telling me their stories, nine times out of ten I’d be horrified (one time in particular). Watanabe, our narrator, is so deeply insular it could be described as narcissistic, but has no issue spending time commenting on everyone else’s flaws. I was at a constant back and forth about if I loved or hated his character.
In addition, the constant reference to sex is quite jarring and (while I’m no prude) feels like it takes away from what is otherwise a deeply philosophical perspective of love, life and death.
Overall, I couldn’t put it down, but I also couldn’t stop myself from thinking, “what the fuck?”. I’m still confused.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content