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A review by jessicamusch
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
"I’m all through as a human being," she said. "All you're looking at is the lingering memory of what I used to be. The most important part of me, what used to be inside, died years ago, and I'm just functioning by rote memory."
I enjoyed this, as I have done all of Murakami's work. However, as this story has no clear supernatural elements, and is instead a book primarily about relationships, the depiction of the female characters is particularly lacking. It is clear that the female characters are vehicles for the main character to reach his own realisations about life. In addition, the female characters are overly sexualised and clearly written from the male gaze, which tends to reveal the authors' hand while reading.
However, I enjoyed the beautiful prose, the world building, and general storyline, and could relate to Watanabe's struggles to find his place in the world as a young person.
I enjoyed this, as I have done all of Murakami's work. However, as this story has no clear supernatural elements, and is instead a book primarily about relationships, the depiction of the female characters is particularly lacking. It is clear that the female characters are vehicles for the main character to reach his own realisations about life. In addition, the female characters are overly sexualised and clearly written from the male gaze, which tends to reveal the authors' hand while reading.
However, I enjoyed the beautiful prose, the world building, and general storyline, and could relate to Watanabe's struggles to find his place in the world as a young person.