18.5k reviews for:

Norveška šuma

Haruki Murakami

3.85 AVERAGE

dark emotional sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this book is a lot more depressing than i expected. after finishing, i felt a strange sense of melancholy and sorrow i still can't seem to get rid of. murakami has such a unique way of writing. i didn't know a human could convey feelings through words like that before. it's so emotionally vacant, hollow and insufferable. i've always wondered if that hollowness shows how the concept of masculinity detaches men from their selfhood, empathy, and ability to connect with others, whether intentional or not. it's quite controversial and uncomfortable in some chapters. there's no woman in the book that is not being sexualized bro!! murakami women are either manic pixie dream girls or uncomfortably sexualized older women, no in between. he has an undeniable problem writing about women, though. which in some works is merely disappointing and others can be really problematic.
dark reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Ik zat er in en wilde er niet meer uit. Wat een prachtig, ontroerend boek.
Zo mooi “dat de bergen verkruimelen en de zee opdroogt”.

Maybe I would have enjoyed this book more if I hadn't already read many of Murakami's other novels first. He covers many of the same themes and ideas elsewhere. I just found this one more depressing than it was worth.

gretap's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 32%

Finished reading another edition.

Di una potenza incredibile. Questo libro mi ha fatto paura e non poco, già dalla prima pagina. Ogni riga descriveva un momento che effettivamente avevo vissuto nella mia vita, e dava voce a sensazioni che mai sarei riuscita a spiegare a parole. Mi rivedo molto nella figura di Tōru, studente disinteressato, che prova ad essere buono con tutti e alla fine si ritrova a dover fare i conti con sé stesso. La scrittura di Murakami è talmente semplice che ti trascina, non vuoi saperne niente della fine del capitolo o del tempo passato sul libro, mentre leggi hai solo fame di parole. Allo stesso tempo però, Murakami sa essere fin troppo franco. Ti sbatte in faccia la realtà, ti dice che le cose stanno così e che non vi è rimedio, e ti lascia con la speranza che possa esserci almeno una spiegazione. A mio avviso, uno dei libri migliori, se non il migliore che io abbia mai letto.
fast-paced

mi è rimasto qualcosa dentro, però è come se avessi aspettative del tutto diverse di questo libro.
La trama è molto bella ma non ho apprezzato questo continuo pensiero sessuale in qualsiasi minima situazione, anche in quelle più carine, 
ho cercato di giustificare dicendo che è un po' vero che nell'adolescenza si è molto propensi a questo tipo di approccio relazionale, 
ma mi sono resa conto che era davvero eccessivo e in alcune scene mi sono sentita fuoriluogo e a disagio.
Non metto in dubbio che sia stato un bel libro, la morte di naoko non l'aspettavo affatto, 
sono riuscita a capire al di sotto delle righe, 
per questo il libro mi è rimasto impresso 
emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging dark 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

This book is weird. I half loved it and was half completely put off by it. 

The heartache, yearning, loneliness and misery is right up my street. Some of the writing is so beautiful. But there’s a few things which left me with a strange and unsettled feeling. 

I found the narrator pretty insufferable: self-centred, superior and incapable of relating to women in any kind of meaningful way. The female characters are so strangely crafted too, in an uncomfortable way. Some of the sexual thoughts and encounters are downright weird, and at times I could hear myself thinking ‘really?’ I personally don’t want to see the phrases ‘breasts of a little girl’ or ‘violating a 17-year old’ anywhere near a sex scene. 

Shame. I really liked the examination of death and life and the book had the potential to be really moving. However I was left with the bitter taste of Ick in my mouth after I’d finished.