jonahksmith's reviews
2 reviews

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

When I was 17, one of my best friends died. He was found in a practice room at his university. To read Norwegian Wood was to revisit myself at that funeral.

I bought this in a book store in Kentucky two years ago and finally started reading it. I finished the book in less than a week. I’m not usually one to underline text in a novel, but I happened to have a pencil on my coffee table while reading this and there are a few lines that stood out to me as exceptional prose. I look forward to rereading this in the future.

Many of the women in this story are well ideated but poorly written characters. I think it is particularly annoying that the narrator has sex with all but one named female character; even then I was worried that Toru would turn his moment of chivalry with Hatsumi into an excuse to bed her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Pedophilia

Moderate: Suicide

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25