A review by kenbooky
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

3.0

FRIEND RECOMMENDATION. Murakami is one of Japan’s most prevalent writers. He churns em’ out like nobody’s business. Norwegian Wood is a story of a boy (Watanabi) And a girl (Naoko) with some pretty deep scars left over from their high school friend’s death (Kizuki). Through their mutual grief Naoko and Watanabi somewhat find each other in a ‘will they won’t they’ romance with the guilt that she, after all, was his dead best friend’s girl. With Naoko’s mental health in shambles, she is sent to a clinic where her and Watanabi continue being pen pals. Neither seems to be getting better yet both cling to each other in order to cling to the memory of Kizuki. I loved Murakami’s ability to create neither good nor bad characters — just to see somewhat flawed people bopping around unapologetically. I did find the way that the author wrote about women and women’s bodies borderline obsessive…as if neither age nor type of character (being female ofc was off limits to inspection) I heard countless descriptions of breasts for no apparent reasons. Still a good read just kinda crazy what make authors can get away with though. Thanks so much @edyaenessa