A review by sinfell
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It’s extremely difficult to understate how well this book approaches topics of grief and death, as well as how well Murakami grounds each character to reality, so much so that I feel as though I have not connected so much with another main character as I have with Toru. While this book, much like Murakami, does have dated and problematic cultural views, I think the sheer quality alone is enough to excuse it, if only to keep reading until completion. 
I have read several of Murakami’s stories, but I feel his more realistic works have their own sort of surrealism to it that any fantastical plot points feels completely unnecessary. 
Plus Midori is in this book, so that should be reason enough to give it 5 stars.
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