Norwegian Wood Readalong: Part-the-Last

Well, sometimes you just get what you ask for.  I thought I wanted more Midori, then it was all Midori, all the time, and then she turns into this sulking shell of a girl.  But then, I guess, she turns out okay, despite her falling in love with Toru.  At least she's direct, and a little directness goes a long way with this crowd.

Let's see...Naoko is still dreary and fucked-up, and whoops--she commits suicide, too, to nobody's surprise. Too bad, so sad. Moving on.

Reiko.  Alas, she fell under Toru's spell, too.  I mean, I can totally see now why chicks dig him--he likes to iron clothing and get rid of wrinkles and everything, and who wouldn't swoon over that? I reckon she's off to off herself.

Toru. Mr "I've just declared my love for Midori, so I guess the first thing I better do after getting back to civilization is indulge in a pity fuck right now." Helluva guy, that Toru.

So, I suppose it should come as no surprise that I didn't care much for this book.  Murakami's men are either boors or bores, and the women are all either dull and suicidal, or far too bright & incandescent to be with Murakami men. Still, by the time I came to the end of this book there was a certain satisfaction in it, apart from the relief of finally getting to the end.  I'm completely puzzled why this is the book that rocketed Murakami to both national and international stardom, though--how this book can be a cultural touchstone is way beyond me.

I bought 1Q84 as soon as it released in the US, but I don't think I'm going to be picking it up any time soon.  I'm going to need a Murakami palate cleanser before starting in on that doorstop of a book. But still, y'all, how much fun was it to do a read-a-long with a modern classic that most of us didn't really like so much?  Totes fun, that's how much!  Yay, Alice, for hosting.

Norwegian Wood Readalong: Part Trois: I suck

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?

Norwegian Wood Readalong: Part Deux

So, is it just me, or have the rest of y'all had "Norwegian Wood" stuck in your heads all week, too? I've been whistling and humming it at every turn.  And am I the last one to know about the film adaptation to be released in the US later this year?  I found it quite by accident today when looking for the Hunger Games trailer to watch.

All of this is to delay my discussion of the book, which I confess I find little pleasure in reading.    Though I did finish the reading this week, I found the two assigned chapters tedious, indeed, which makes me fear that perhaps I'm too pedestrian to appreciate Murakami's subtleties.  What I cannot determine is whether it's a lack of understanding the cultural differences or my lack of sophistication getting in the way.  

What's up with this passage in chapter 6: "I'm saying you shouldn't use yourself up in some unnatural form.  Do you see what I'm getting at? It would be such a waste. The years nineteen and twenty are a crucial stage in the maturation of character, and if you allow yourself to become warped when you're that age, it will cause you pain when you're older. It's true."

And I noticed on the back cover of my edition that the LA Times Book Review said that this was "easily the most erotic of [his] novels." I wonder at that when there are passages like this in the book (and last week somebody else already pointed out Murakami's use of her "opening" in a sex scene): "If he wanted to play with my breasts or vagina, I didn't mind at all, or if he had semen he wanted to get rid of, I didn't helping with that, either." Erotic? I don't think so.

Still, the loony bin Ami Hotel was a pretty interesting place, though it's hard to imagine such a place here in the US.  And Reiko's piano student was a real piece of work (though the writing was on the wall for that one).

Basically I have three words for Murakami at this point: More Midori, please.

Sorry for being so down on the book this week; I hold out hope that by the time I come to the end that my opinion may change.  What about y'all?  What did you take away from this week's reading? 

Norwegian Wood Readalong

I've never participated in a readalong before, but I rather obnoxiously commented on the posts for everybody who participated in the Help! I Haven't Read The Help Readalong, sponsored by Reading Rambo. This month she's sponsoring a new one for Haruki Murakmi's Norwegian Wood, which nobody doubts will be a more elevated selection.  However, my book just arrived at the bookshop yesterday and the first posting deadline is today, so I am a little behind.  Woe is I. But I will buck up, suck it up, and give it the ol' college try (and any other cliche you can think of that is suitable).  I've already missed out on the introductory post, in which we are to elaborate on our feelings of reading Murakami: to sum up, a little bit intimidated because I've read two of his books before and one of them kicked my ass & I didn't finish it, and the other was slim and dreamlike and carried me along on its gentle current. Which one will Norwegian Wood resemble, or will it be something entirely its own?

Okey-dokey.  Here are my almighty thoughts about chapters one through four two.  In a readalong, I'm not sure which is more important: finishing the reading and posting late, or posting on time what you've had the chance to read. I'm erring on the side of the latter for this week until informed otherwise.

I'm not sure if it's a cultural difference or what, but the conversation between Toru and Naoko seems completely stilted.  The relationship itself and the way they interact feel natural, but any verbal exchange leaves me feeling dissatisfied.  On the other hand, the same dream-like quality that I liked about After Dark seems to be developing here, and I'm all for that.

I love the meditation on memory and clarity at the end of chapter one: it's almost like a prose version of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle: the closer in time he is to Naoko, the less clear she seems, and conversely, "the more the memories of Naoko inside me fade, the more deeply I am able to understand her." Maybe it's just the old physics nerd in me resurfacing, but I was completely drawn to the last two paragraphs in the chapter.

Cicadas--who knew that they were in Japan?  Of the four places I've lived in the US (MA, NC, MS, and WI), I have only ever known them in MS.  I wouldn't have expected them to show up in Japan, what with the wildly divergent climates.

Boys' dormitories--I guess that's a cross-culture disgusting thing.  I was an RA in college and had to make several, ahem, official visits to the boys' dorms after hours and they were always appaling.  I love Murakami's description of mattresses here: "sweat-impregnated pads would give off odors beyond redemption." So true, so true.

National anthem--"until pebbles turn to boulders" seemed like the phrase should be reversed to me until I looked up the rest of the lyrics online.  Now I suppose I just find it creepy, because if it were "boulders turn to pebbles," then it's just a really long time on a geologic time scale.  But waiting for pebbles to turn to boulders is not going to happen, ever. And then I had the irreverent thought that it would be a better national anthem for North Korea. And then I realized that I don't really want to inspect too closely the words of my own national anthem and I left it alone.

And how 'bout that suicide, eh? Can't wait to move on 'cause in retrospect it makes the convo in chapter one a little less stilted.

Shoot, this makes me feel stoopid.  Can't wait to read everybody else's response so that I can learn better how to do this.  'Til next time, y'all.