When you pick up a novel by Haruki Murakami, you know you're going get certain things. Cats, wells, sex, references to western pop music, and a young alienated guy who falls in love with a woman who gets lost.
Norwegian Wood? Check, check, check, check, and check. But what it doesn't have is the surreal and bizarre events that happen in the other novels. Nobody is talking to cats or getting flung into alternate dimensions or having sex with ghosts. Everything that happens in Norwegian Wood could happen in real life.
I love the surreal aspect of his other novels, but for Norwegian Wood I didn't miss it at all. In fact, I think the absence allows me to become more engrossed in the story, more attached to the characters, because I don't have a barrier of impossibility reminding me that I'm reading fiction.
It's hard for me to choose a favorite Murakami novel, but if you put a gun to my head right now, I think I'd have to choose this one. 5 out of 5 stars.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
Gun to my head, this is the order I would rank the Murakami novels I've read so far.
1. Norwegian Wood
2. Kafka on the Shore
3. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
4. Sputnik Sweetheart
5. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
6. South of the Border, West of the Sun
But they're all good!
Norwegian Wood...hahaha...wood...
Hmmm...I like cats, sex, western pop music, and love stories (I do not enjoy wells, however). This sounds like a book I might enjoy!
Would I?
Don't worry, the wells are minor in this one compared to books like The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. But then again, the cats are minor too. It's pretty much just people.
Hmmm...how can I answer this without giving too much away?
This book has humor and happiness in it, but it also has a lot of death and sadness too. And the ending is up for interpretation. Although most of the online community seems to view it pessimistically (from what little I've read of the discussions), there is definitely a way to read it optimistically. (I read it optimistically) But even with an optimistic reading, I would say it's still pretty far from a happy ending. Can you enjoy a love story that doesn't necessarily have a happy ending?
So...I don't know if you would like it or not. My guess is probably not.
And not that kind of "wood".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY5i4-rWh44
Haha, I know not that kind of "wood"...
I can do perfectly well with an unhappy ending. What I can't stand is a crappy story with an unhappy ending- then there's nothing positive about the book.
Sometimes unhappy endings make a story more memorable.
Well then, maybe you would like it. Give it a read and let me know what you think.
Yeah, not going to happen anytime soon. I've got like three books going right now and Adam just sent me two more.
Remind me to read it in like a year, okay?
Haha, okay okay.
Speaking of books, did you ever finish that Carl Sagan book, or did you give up on it?
And what happened to your to-do list updates?
Haha, it's one of the three I'm reading now.
To-Do List...hmmm that sounds familiar. I should get back to that...
...thanks for doing your job (finally)
Haha, whatever.
Post a Comment