Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Norwegian Wood

I would like to try to describe the hold this book had over me. The last time I had read it was more than 7 years ago, but every detail of it is still etched in my mind. I read my copy until it fell apart. I used to recommend this to people I have known. I may have gotten a couple of them to read it, and I don't know if they have gotten the same things as I did out of it. Probably not. And it's okay.

I have first picked it up after having been kicked out of the university and I had gone back home in disgrace. I was 16, very sick, friendless and hopeless.

Within the pages of this book, I have felt understood. It had spoken of things that other people were too afraid (or could not be bothered) to talk about with me. Death, loss, grief, unrequited love, depression, desolation, isolation, darkness; but also - growing up, learning about one's sexuality and sex, friendship, devotion, hope, little glimpses of light. But I hadn't known yet how much of this book I would get to experience for myself.

I have lived with this book, I have lived through it, I have lived by it. I have identified with every character in it, I kid you not. I had found myself in many of their situations. I had grieved their losses and experienced their pain. It felt very much like I was constantly drifting in and out of this book, my life having been woven in its pages before I have even lived it. In so many ways, I am still that 16-year-old.

It will be interesting to meet up with this old friend again someday. Maybe, if I find myself out of the woods.

Content Warnings

soniaaaaaaaa's review against another edition

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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

4.0

heartbreakingly good, the characters felt like real people and how murakami is able to explore grief and loss was really effective.

i would also check the trigger warnings before reading, some stuff i read i didnt expect and it was quite disturbing

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bmnayr's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Tremendously heavy subject matter for what is apparently considered "just a love story" from Murakami. I suspect this will be the first of several of his works I find myself stuck into. Relatively straightforward prose until it isn't anymore. Some of the imagery is striking in a way that's a little painful.

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annahollamby's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

boring and incredibly unlikeable. found myself wondering so many times if the author has ever actually met and interacted with a real woman before. like genuinely. the way he talks about women and sex is gross and pathetic. yet more complex female storiess and characters lost to the male gaze and the manic pixie dream girl trope. also sincerely What The Fuck (r.e. the supposed lesbian character realising she's a lesbian because of a 13 year old 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮 only for her lesbianism to be cured in the end by (you guessed it!) a penis... Fucking Gross.

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spottedtea's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A must-read for those who want to delve into modern Japanese literature and/or Murakami. It was profoundly popular in Japan when it was first published, and is likely an accurate portrayal of the average lifestyle of young 20-somethings in 1960s Tokyo. However, I would not consider this a "good" book. It is a rather enjoyable and quick read, but the characters are overall unlikeable (especially the main character; the plot (and there barely is one) is basically "which hot/cute girl will I choose" (harem anime anyone?), and sees our protagonist vacillate between various women through sexual encounters. But you should definitely feel bad for him, he is a lonely boy after all, かわいそう) and the amount of sexual content just becomes cringe-y after awhile. The male protagonist is a carbon copy of the male protagonist from Murakami's prior novels (and likely a stand-in for Murakami himself). And the way mental instability and suicide is treated in this novel is, by modern standards, melodramatic and disrespectful. I could go on.

Murakami has a history of constructing female characters as overly and primarily sexual beings, which is just a projection of his own fantasy, let's not kid ourselves, but this is a wider issue with Japanese societal norms regarding gender relations which I won't get into here. In summation, worth reading for understanding, but brace yourself for unlikeable characters and an overabundance of gratuitious sexual content.

However, you might be asking, why are you insisting I should read this when you seem to have only a list of complaints? Well dear imaginary reader, let me answer that: there are some very poignant scenes and moments in this novel, especially towards the end, that faithfully captures the true loneliness and ennui that many young adults face as they are about to exit the education system and enter the adult world. I can't help but still vividly recall very specific scenes from this novel as if I had watched a movie. Murakami's characters and plots may not always be well-constructed (his female characters especially), but the emotional atmosphere he imparts on readers is often striking. So far, I actually think his first novel (Hear the Wind Sing) was the best at this. But that might be because it was short, pithy, to-the-point. It focused on his strengths as a writer and cut out the fat. Norwegian Wood gets too caught up in its attempts at promoting an aesthetic almost (as in, too many pretentious references to quintessential 60s music). Which, if you understand modern Japanese taste, makes sense as to why it became so much more popular.

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prlprl's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Murakami’s writing style is easy and interesting to read. His ability to recreate life without romanticism is itself charming. The lucid normalcy of Norwegian Wood and honest sexuality makes for a refreshing read where scintillating sensationalism has saturated itself into a genre of romance. The narrator witnesses and experiences much, but does not attempt to explain what he does not know, and for that he is appreciated. Without patronising or proselytising, the simplicity of existing is coloured by the difficulty of living. I enjoyed every page for the writer’s keen ability to touch upon the nature of memory, love, and the inevitability of death, and how this forms and ideates our relationships with others.

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fergascod's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Un llibre amb una atmòsfera molt trista. Tots els personatges estan atravessats per la desgràcia. Segurament no l’hauria d’haver llegit tenint en compte com estic últimament, tot i que potser sí.

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