Literary Fiction | Book Chatter

Norwegian Wood
By Haruki Murakami
(Vintage, Paperback, 9780375704024, September 2000, 304pp.)

The Short of It:

Norwegian Wood is arguably THE book that put Murakami on the map, yet its transparency and predictability frustrated me.

The Rest of It:

Murakami is known for his odd, quirky characters and his affinity for talking cats, but Norwegian Wood is a departure from that. Yes, the characters are quirky but probably the least quirky I’ve encountered thus far and I’ve read eight of his books in the past year and a half.

Essentially, the book functions as a love story. At its center is Toru Watanabe. He’s an average guy and a decent student. While at college, he befriends Kizuki and Naoko who happen to be dating but the two of them are not complete without the addition of Toru’s friendship. All three of them acknowledge this at some point in their relationship, yet when Kizuki dies tragically, Naoko and Toru remain friends, but their friendship is challenged by Naoko’s inability to function without Kizuki. This forces her to spend some time away, recuperating from her sadness.

While away, Toru goes about his life as he normally would trying to figure out where he stands with Naoko and then in walks Midori. Midori has her own issues and although the two take comfort in each other’s company, they can’t seem to move past the Toru/Naoko connection. What starts off as an innocent friendship turns into something else, but how far can it go when your heart also loves another?

My reaction to the book may have been due to the translation but the writing was simplistic to me. Overly so, and that’s not something I expect while reading a Murakami novel. The dialogue was stilted and almost seemed forced in some places. At first, I enjoyed the slowness of it, but when the dialogue continued this way, I began to get frustrated with it. It really played out as a “He Said, She Said” and its predictability in both plot and pattern nearly put me to sleep at one point. But, there are telltale signs of Murakami’s familiar style too which is probably why I continued reading. His characters are always so interesting even if what they had to say wasn’t.

However, there was a “creep” factor to this novel that I’ve not experienced with any of Murakami’s other books. The “relations” between some of the characters set my teeth on edge. Many have said this is one of Murakami’s more erotic novels but I didn’t find it to be overly erotic or graphic. However, I did feel uncomfortable numerous times while reading it. The conversations about sex just didn’t seem realistic me. You wouldn’t walk up to a friend and say, “Hey, it would be nice to see your penis just to see how impressive it is. Don’t you think?” Not a line from the book but it’s a good example of what I am talking about. Polite and smutty all at the same time.

Overall, I enjoyed the musical references and listened to Norwegian Wood a few times while reading but the story was very slow and the high creep factor turned me off. Not one of my favorites, but I suspect that readers who do not appreciate the surreal quality of his other novels, might prefer the straight-forwardness of this one.

Note from Ti: Haven’t seen the movie yet but I’m curious enough to check it out.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Prisoner of Heaven
By Carlos Ruiz Zafon
(Harper, Hardcover, 9780062206282, July 2012, 288pp.)

The Short of It:

A mystery, familiar characters and the lure of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books is why I quickly snatched this one up.

The Rest of It:

When I read The Shadow of the Wind years ago, I considered it a stand-alone novel. It was a magical story, beautifully written with a fantastic setting and wonderful, memorable characters. Plus, it introduced me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books which was, to me, such a wonderful invention. Imagine a large library of forgotten titles, all lovingly preserved…never to disappear from existence. Sigh.

Several years later, Zafon came out with The Angel’s Game which was, at the time, advertised as a prequel to Shadow but the author has said numerous times, that all of the books are stand-alone novels and not meant to be read in any particular order and in the case of Angel, I’d say that fits. However, The Prisoner of Heaven is a follow-up to Shadow in that our main character is now all grown up, married and a father. But once again, although we get to know a little more about these wonderful characters, it has its own story to tell.

Daniel and his father continue to run their bookshop, but times are tough and the business has not been doing well. One day, a stranger walks in and buys a very expensive copy of The Count of Monte Cristo, signs it and tells Daniel to give it to his old friend, Fermin Romero del Torres. When Daniel opens the book, he sees that the inscription that the stranger left, is signed Fermin Romero del Torres which is the same name as Daniel’s long time friend. When Daniel shows the book to Fermin, the man has no choice but to share his secret with Daniel and in doing so, is forced to remember a different time, when his days were spent behind bars with a mysterious prisoner by his side.

The book is short so I don’t want to tell you too much about plot because if I do, you won’t read it. What I can tell you is that it isn’t as enthralling as Shadow but it was a solid installment to the series. I enjoyed it much more than Angel. My only quibble was the obvious lead-in to a fourth installment at the end. I knew from reading some other reviews that a fourth book is coming, but I didn’t expect the lead-in to be so obvious. That was really the only thing that stuck out for me.

If you could only read one book, I’d highly recommend Shadow but if you end up falling in love with the characters then you’ll be like me and read all of them just because they are all tied together in some way. This is one series where the setting has you coming back for more, too. Barcelona. Old streets. Gothic structures. Mysterious, sinister characters. Yep, quite enjoyable.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher via Edelweiss.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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