A review by slimyweed
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

2.25

Gosh, I can’t understand for the life of me why this book is so blindingly popular. Yes, it is well-written, engaging and relatively easy to get through, similar to the other Murakami I have read. This book did however illuminate why accusations of misogyny are so often levied against him. I really have never read a book which presents his female characters so terribly.

There’s only one female character Toru doesn’t sleep with, and she is the girlfriend of a seemingly horrible serial cheater who can’t bring herself to leave him simply because she is in love, despite being fully aware of how awful he is. The others, despite how absolutely uninteresting Toru seems to be, all seem to desire him. Midori is by far the worst, a manic pixie dream girl slut who loves watching porno movies (kinkier the better), practically begs Toru to masturbate to her, and wants nothing more than to settle down and have babies. She seems to have no hobbies or interests (other than drinking and watching porn), and despite giving off a strong and independent exterior, sits around and waits for Toru for months and months while he treats her terribly and doesn’t seem to realise it.

It all got a bit much for me in the end. The book is objectively good, but I just can’t stand to sit and read women written like that, especially for a book so famous and highly praised. Not all of Murakami‘s work is like this. If you‘re thinking about reading him for the first time, please, for the love of god just don’t start with Norwegian Wood.