Reviews with content warning for Grief - Norwegian Wood

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

171 reviews

xiumillion's review

dark emotional funny reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

5.0

When I started this book, I felt like I had made a mistake in choosing it over all the other books on my TBR that I could've bought. The beginning was slow and I didn't really care about what was going on. However, not long after, I found myself completely absorbed into Toru's life and the lives of those around him. I took so long to complete this book because I truly didn't want it to end. I don't think this book is for everyone, but it was absolutely for me.

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h0lland's review

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

The prose is so, so beautiful, and Murakami’s scene setting feels straight out of the romantic period. There’s a lot here about grief of both the living and the dead and what that means for having interpersonal relationships on any level. A common theme was the value (or lack therof) of being understood. In many ways I’m not sure where we are supposed to land on these themes by the end, but getting there was worth it.

PS
This did NOT pass the Bechdel test.

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thedevilnextdoor13's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing sad slow-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

4.75

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chaotic_productivity's review

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dark reflective tense 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

A story about mental health dealing with the disconnect of characters from their real world

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kittkat's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Eine Art Liebesgeschichte/ Geschichte über das Erwachsenwerden in Japan der 1960er Jahre.
Naoko und Toru verlieren einen Kindheitsfreund als sie alle gerade mal 17 Jahre alt sind und versuchen ihre Leben danach einzeln weiterzuleben. Irgendwann finden sie sich wieder, aber zu dem Zeitpunkt kämpft Naoko schon mit vielen anderen Dingen und ist tief in ihrer Trauer versunken. Toru gibt ihr jeden Beistand, den er ihr anbieten kann und versucht aber gleichzeitig ein normales Jugendleben an der Uni zu führen, während er Naoko schon völlig verfallen ist.
Toru trifft viele Menschen und die ganzen Menschen machen den Roman letztendlich zu dem, was er ist.

Das Buch war auf englisch noch viel viel schöner geschrieben und ich habe es sehr genossen und dabei noch ein paar Tränen gegossen (= geschluchzt und gerotzt). Leider kann ich aber mit den letzen ca. 5% vom Buch immer noch nichts anfangen… Warum musste ich das lesen? Ich habe gehofft, dass es nicht so schlimm ist, wie ich es in Erinnerung hatte, aber doch doch :)

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banannabel's review

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emotional reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

3.25

i don’t get the beginning or end but i liked the book

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kyoe983's review

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challenging dark emotional relaxing sad medium-paced

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

3.0

The one thing that this book keeps consistent throughout the story it's aesthetic. Through Murakami's writing style and the translator's work, we're transported in the somber and full-of-death world of Toru Watanabe, with every scene, place, thought, and dialogue seeming extremely vivid. This clearness of the story seems very entertaining while reading, but if you take it away you'll realize that Murakami writes about a bunch of nonsense. The flaws of this book are numerous, and even if it seems you're following a story while reading, you're not. There are just events. Rememberings of a 40-year-old man. Are his thoughts even real? He does mention in the first chapter that he doesn't remember much, and then proceeds to write a full book, very vividly and detailed, about his life 20 years ago. Maybe that also explains why the ending is so fucking bad. Maybe.

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