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Norwegian Wood

Haruki Murakami

Why we're reading this: Japan
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Jun 06, 2009 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it liked it

Shelves: location-japan, read2009

I really had to mull over this one before writing anything about it. To so many people it appears to be a love story, but I really take issue with that - this is a dark, twisted story really, with a lot of mental anguish for everyone except the main character. I am starting to take issue with the typical Murakami protagonist - they seem so bewildered about the world around them, particularly about women but people in general, and the only relationships they have are those that fall into their li ...more

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Apr 18, 2010 Steve Kettmann rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-read-2010

I read this one in about two days, which I think was ideal. The book has such a dreamlike feel to it, all unfurling from the narrator's pang of too-vivid memory as he sits on the plane landing at Hamburg airport, that I had the feeling of climbing right into the dream and in fact, immediately the book and its world started showing up in my dreams. It's a love story, of course, but it's also a book about the price one pays to live with the past. The writing, funny just when that offers a timely b ...more

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Jun 27, 2013 Astrid Lim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: asia, psychology, literature, tragedy, culture, dramatic, contemporary

Very dark and gloomy, yet really inspiring especially about life in Japanese culture. No wonder Murakami became one of the best modern classic authors nowadays. He pictured the depressing moments really well. The main character is very likable, although the sexual contents are sometimes a bit too much for my taste. Fortunately Murakami included some dark humor into the sex scenes. I think I would really interested to read more Murakamis.

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