So...when we left off at the exciting point last week, we were most of us kinda bored and wanting more Midori. It's as if Murakami heard our silent pleas and it was like all Midori, all the time. In fact, I was enjoying the book so much more that I read it straight through on my trip to New Orleans last week. The catch (and there's always a catch) is that I thoughtlessly packed up my copy with notes and dog-ears and marginalia with the fifty or so books that I picked up in Nawlins, so I'm waiting for it to arrive tomorrow in my big box o' books.
And since I drank my weight in beer and sazeracs last week and am still, in fact, feeling sleep deprived, I can't really recall any of my thoughts about this week's assignment, other than these very broad and not-very-helpful ones:
1. Midori rocks, but she is also troubled and a little wacky: "let's go get drunk, let's go watch porn together, let's talk all about blow jobs." But I loved the hospital scenes with her father, particularly (and oddly enough) the one with the cucumber & Toru.
2. Why do all of these incredibly damaged women like Toru when he's not very interesting, not a good conversationalist, and actually says he might not be able to keep himself from raping a woman if he were to spend the night with her and she didn't want to have sex (though in reality he was able to manage just fine)?
3. Why is ho-hum and conventional Toru attracted to these incredibly damaged women?
Next week it is my intention to review the book in its entirety once my copy arrives in the mail. I can say that I ended up liking the book more at the end than I had at the end of last week's excruciating reading, but I guess that's not saying much.
What say you, Norwegian Wood Read-a-long-er?
I feel like Toru is just as damaged as these women, only in the complete opposite way (to Midori, at least) in that he's severely passive and just lets things happen to him. I forgot about the whole 'I'd need to have sex with a woman if I was near her thing', maybe because at no point did I think he was serious because, come on, it's Toru. He's not even capable of making a decision like that for himself!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're liking it more, even if that's only more than NOT AT ALL...
I wondered a few times why these people all seem to be attracted to Toru when he is so bland. Although the scenes with Toru helping out with Midori's father made me like him more.
ReplyDeleteYou fracture me.
ReplyDeleteLove,
S
OH yeah I neglected to mention in my post how extremely fricking messed up Midori is. I got to the part about her wanting him to think about her and was like What the WHAT? I am just not on Murakami's vibe. I appreciate almost nothing he's doing here. There're like, occasional sentences I enjoy, but ugh to the book on the whole.
ReplyDeleteYour 2nd point is what makes me want to chuck my book at the wall and shake my angry fist at Murakami - he's bland, unambitious, and even his small talk is pretty weak. He's got no game, but they come a callin'. Makes nooo sense. he's like a chick magnet, but only for the cray-cray.
ReplyDeleteI REALLY wanted a cucumber after the hospital scene. I still kind of do...
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