'Of course why not, I'll reply...'

Review: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Recently I've been watching a lot of BookTubers who each have favourite authors, whose books they autobuy or whose events they run to attend. I don't really have that; I mean, I love Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, but I haven't really read any of his other works, the same with David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas or Markus Zusak's The Book Thief. So what I'm trying to say is that I'm trying to read through the back catalogue of some author's whose work I like. One of these authors is Haruki Murakami, whose works I recently dipped into with his magical realist work After Dark. Norwegian Wood, a more realist tome, is feted as his greatest work and thus this was the one I picked up next. 

Norwegian Wood tells the story of Toru Watanabe, a young drama student who lives in a halls of residence in Tokyo. It follows the two key romances in his young life, one with a woman from his home town, Naoko, and one with a student he meets in Tokyo, Midori. Both women, despite their differences- Naoko is beautiful yet troubled, Midori lively and challenging- are equally strong and interesting characters. The tension between past and future in these two characters, especially in relation to Toru, is palpable; Toru has to choose whether to bring Naoko out of his past into his present or whether to bring Midori from not just his present but also into his future. I can't help but think that these two female characters are a metaphor for Japan itself, or at least the reduction of traditional values in favour of modern, technological ones. It is a tale of loss and change, about a tumultuos time not only in the life of Watanabe and countless other 20 year olds but in the that of Japan. 

Before this I had read Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides- which I disliked as I really didn't get the point of it- and this was also a book littered with characters with suicidal dependencies. I did not realise this when I picked up the book, I wasn't aiming for a reading theme for the month. Murakami does indeed deal with serious topics here, however he does it so well and with such tact. I think it helps that he explores all of these troubled personalities through the relatively calm and serene narrator Watanabe. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, it had the perfect mix of beautiful writing, strong underlying themes and an engaging plot which did twist and turn. I was left shocked several times whilst reading. 

What is it about? Loss, loneliness, growing up. 
Would I recommend? Yes, definitely. I'm looking forward to reading some of Murakami's more wildly imaginative works. 

'When I'm down and feeling blue...'

Review: After Dark by Haruki Murakami

This will most likely be a short review for a short book, but my God, this one was magical. After Dark was my first Murakami novel, and despite mixed reviews on Goodreads, it did not disappoint. 

I was thoroughly hooked by the lyrical, beautiful description of the Japanese city from the opening pages, and whilst this did not continue throughout the whole novel, it's a description that will come to haunt me as it haunted the whole book. 
The novel follows a young girl, Mari, and what happens to both her and her sister over one night in the Tokyo. Here Mari meets people who exist only at night, who have secrets that draw on her own. All of the characters are so well drawn and unique, and could all have been main characters in their own, expanded novel. I enjoyed the un-cliche (is that a word?) portrayal of clever Mari who always wants to better herself, and the full of chatter yet slightly serious Takahashi, a boy she meets on her way. The storyline with Mari's sister Eri is the strange one, and it is the big mystery in the novel which is never quite figured out, however the multiple weaving storylines are so gripping, and I'm not sure how.Although this piece did not make sense a hundred percent, I found it to be so inherently beautiful and enthralling that I couldn't put it down. It opened my eyes up to the Japanese culture which is completely different from anything that I have experienced, and yet the characters and the situation seemed to identifiable. The depiction of the night and the dark was chilling, but also so real and honest. Murakami seemed to do something so hard for a novelist, and condense such a huge theme into such a small work. It is a work that was so broad and yet so condensed I cannot really explain it, and feel that I am just rambling on. It is a work that will stick with me.

This was a book that I got from the library but would love to buy in paperback, it was so good. I've never really been that into magical realism, but I am most certainly into Murakami, so I would certainly like to give his works a try. Norwegian Wood is number one on my list for now, one that I will definitely have to purchase in the near future. 

What is it about? I don't know, and I think it will take me a while to process. Right now I'm thinking secrets, and what of ourselves we choose to reveal to the world and what we hide. 
Would I recommend? Yes, 100%.