A review by daisyvb
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The first Murakami I've ever read and for the most part, I can understand why he has so many readers and such acclaim. The writing flowed smoothly, everything seeming calm and natural despite unusual situations or conversations that occurred which is impressive. I was aware of the "misogyny" allegations regarding his writing of women going into this and I suppose there was definitely sexist under (maybe over) tones but for the most part it just felt like a book written by a man. Maybe I'm just jaded and was conditioned to expect worse. There was one shocking scene that felt a little homophobic quite frankly, although the issue I take with that particular part goes a little deeper (a warning would have been useful). Midori was probably my favourite of the women our protagonist interacts with; she was bold and a little wild. Sometimes I wondered if the reason he was so blasé and easy going about some of the more peverted things she and the other female characters would say is because Murakami was making them the "weird" ones so his male lead came out better, less gross and demeaning. I didn't mind the frank conversations regarding sexuality and such (again I was prepared by the authors reputation) but it was interesting to see it all come from the women. Despite the fact women play such a key role in this, I don't know if it passes the Bechdel Test.. maybe in scenes that are implied to occur off the page at the forest retreat but I can't recall it happening in text. There was definitely several cases of manic pixie dream girl occurring and poor understanding and treatment of mental health but again, Murakami's reputation precedes him. I would probably pick up another one of his works, just to see how his style and themes translates over to other narratives.
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