Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Norwegian Wood

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

391 reviews

soniaaaaaaaa's review

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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mirrorofneptune's review against another edition

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reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Very quickly on in this book I realized that none of the characters talk like any actual living person I’ve ever heard before. They’re all melodramatic and philosophical and you just have to roll with that. All of the women are arguably manic-pixie-dream-girl-esque but several of the men, including the narrator, are arguably manic-pixie-dream-boy-esque so I guess that’s equality for you.

That being said, I really enjoyed this book. I haven’t yet read much from Murakami but it felt more straightforward than Kafka on the Shore (which I did also enjoy) and it was full of incredibly-quotable paragraphs ruminating on life and death. There were some strong and interesting themes about how we as people relate to and explore the world, and what the consequences are for us when we lose the ability to do that.

A good read. Might need to go listen to that Beatles song now lol

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janainthebooks's review

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dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

3.0

I understand it is the perspective of a 19 year old boy but the way women are viewed and described in this book is extremely superficial, overtly sexual and plane boring. This one sided and objectifying way of storytelling takes away from the depth of the story and the of the characters. The story itself is rather slow paced and at times hard to get through, but gets more interesting in the last third. All in all its an intriguing plot and some passages are beautifully poetic, but it could've been executed better.

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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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soubi1's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.25

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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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