[书] 挪威的森林[Book] Norwegian Wood

Norwegian Wood

This book doesn't have a very high rating on WeChat Reading; so far, it has a 79% positive review rate.

Most of the negative reviews focus on shallow character development, male-gaze perspective, and being too pornographic.

Regarding the sexual aspect, Murakami's view is: the more straightforwardly sex is written, the less it feels sensational. He retorts, if this is considered pornography, then what must their sex lives be like?

Regarding love, the translator (Lin Shaohua) believes: this "realistic" story depicts love in a way that lies in

• The separation of sex and love, Naoko loves Kizuki but wants to have a relationship with Watanabe

• A special love triangle, where all emotional entanglements are concentrated on Watanabe, while the other two women in the story are aware of each other's existence but do not compete jealously. Combining these two points, as readers, we feel Watanabe's unavoidable growth within this relationship full of tension and realistic fatigue.

When writing the following passage, my mind wasn't very clear, new ideas kept emerging and disrupting my original train of thought, and even what I wanted to express seemed not so clear anymore.

The author says this is a novel with growth as its theme. The protagonist's growth curve is not as clear as in traditional novels. I can understand his sense of responsibility towards the two female leads in the book, such as after promising Naoko to wait for her forever, he no longer engages in casual affairs, and even when intimate with Midori, he maintains his bottom line. At first, I only saw hardship in it, only saw deaths big and small, loneliness, and decadence; later, upon reflection, I came to this conclusion:

I used to think growth meant changing after experiencing various events, but now I realize that still holding onto one's own principles after going through sweetness and pain is also a kind of growth.

Watanabe's different changes are hard to explain clearly. Oh well, it's my own book review, I can write it however I want. If I don't understand now, maybe I will in the future.

Having finished the nonsense, I can finally talk about some simple and smooth topics.

Writing Style

Reading this book gave me a very smooth feeling. The writing style reminds me of a video game Disco Elysium.

Their similarity lies in being full of "feelings" in the text, hard to describe this flavor.

I decided to find a passage from each to illustrate.

Midori was silent for a long time on the other end of the phone, a silence that continued like all the fine rain falling on all the lawns in the world --- Norwegian Wood

This world is cold and lonely, and this game happens to be able to accompany him --- Disco Elysium

They both seem to shoot straight through the rational language area, immediately connecting emotions and atmosphere into your brain.

I think this kind of palpable writing is very precious, and it's a major reason why I like reading this book.

And another point, the long dialogues are also similar to Disco Elysium. These dialogues pour out, and no problem is easier to understand and "smoother" than this writing style.

In the book Why Is There a Library in the World, there is a viewpoint that I think is perfect:

"Murakami is not a first-rate writer, but as a springboard, he leads readers to higher places."

If it's for someone just starting to develop a reading habit, I would very likely recommend this book.

Musical Elements

Seeing familiar musicians and music in the book is like discovering a treasure. Thousands of miles away, readers from years ago are listening to the same song as you—isn't that a kind of resonance?

Especially the jazz elements in the book surprised and delighted me. When the protagonist listens to songs, I also open the corresponding songs, immersing myself in the scene and the sound.

Later, I found out that Murakami himself is a jazz fan, running a jazz bar and writing Portrait in Jazz. It's rare to find a fellow enthusiast.