Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami > Reviews

Advantages: many
Disadvantages: none

...say about my reading of Norwegian Wood was that in a single particular it was not faithful to the Japanese print run, which is that mine was a single printed and bound edition, and not the red-half, green-half you might come across.... having got that out of the way, I can tell you about the contents. Norwegian Wood is a rather condensed moment of poised literary brilliance. I approached it with trepidation, since it was so widely lauded and applauded ... Read review

Advantages: Powefully written, mind-altering stuff...
Disadvantages: Not consistently gripping stuff...

...hold of my copy of Norwegian Wood for 99p and bought it partly because I never turn down a cheap read! I thought, for 99p, I couldn't really go wrong. Besides which, the 'blurb' intrigued me. I am glad I have read Murakami's cult classic, and yet, whether I would have bought it full price I really couldn't say. The novel focuses on the complicated and sometimes head-spinningly disturbing and emotionally (and physically) raw world of young student ... Read review

Advantages: Beautifully written, intriguing, wonderfully presented
Disadvantages: Not as surreal as other Murakami works

They say you should never judge a book by it's cover, but it's hard when a particular gimmick you notice is 2 pocket size books - one red, one green - inside a bronze case. This is originally how Haruki Murakami's 'Norwegian Wood' was marketed to the British - a decade delayed replication of how it was introduced to his native Japan in '87. There was even a £75 edition where the hard case was replaced by tin...A difference from the bordering Mills ... Read review

Advantages: The most prettily packaged book I've seen in ages
Disadvantages: It drivels on

This book - or should I say 'books' - was bought for me as a present. It sold several million copies in Japan and became a cult classic. For reasons best known to the publisher, the original version, and the one I got, was published in two small volumes - even though there is no significant break in the story to justify it - which are then sold in a box. It looks really nice. Our hero, Watanabe, hears the Beatles 'Norwegian Wood' at an airport ... Read review

Advantages: an interesting book
Disadvantages: not the best by Murakami though

When I read Norwegian Wood I had already read The Wind up Bird Chronicle and loved it. So I was a little bit disappointed because I did not find in Norwegian Wood the fantastic and surrealistic atmosphere I found In the former book. Anyhow, Norwegian Wood is a book to be read by those who are searching. I find that the reader might sympathise with the characters... who are each one of them in search of their own life and personality. All of it ... Read review