Norwegian Wood | Haruki Murakami

✴ ✴ ✴ . 5

I have never read anything like this. I adored the whole book apart from the last chapter and ending. I know I haven't reviewed in ages!!! I am truly sorry.

Pls forgive the photo quality, I'm so sad. My camera like kinda broke and now I can't take pretty pictures of books; rather I have to use my phone. So sad. (Update: I fixed my camera by clicking a button! I am a legend.) 

So what's all the hype? 

Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before.  Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable.  As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.

This is the goodreads synopsis. 

I've only read one book by Murakami and I do plan on reading at least three. I adored the writing style to an extent, I will elaborate on this further later through this review. Another thing that I will address are the characters and the development of those characters. Moreover, I will conclude with some final thoughts and my overall experience reading. Although, firstly I will enlighten you all on how I went about reading a Murakami novel and how you could too!

Majority of my friends have asked me 'How do I go about reading Murakami?' this is because Murakami is considered good literature for students to be reading, especially if you're in the IB diploma and take HL English Lang/Lit - or just Lit - because this is always at the top of the lists when we go about reading novels to acquire a better understanding of different type of literature. 

So, How Do You Go About Reading Murakami? 

Well, firstly I would have to say get familiar with his books. By this I mean, look up his most popular/highest rated books and read through their synopsis; looking for something that will hook you or interest you to the extent that you wouldn't mind reading it. I am by no mean a 'book guru' and know everything about how you should choose your book, but this is how I did it and how I recommended it to my friends who also benefited from this process. 

To be completely honest, I do believe the 'book choosing' part is extremely important. This is because I felt as though if I read any other book by Murakami and not this one I would feel differently about him. That is just from judgements of synopsis of other Murakami books and things my friends have mentioned. If you're curious, a girl in my class read Norwegian Wood and was recommending it to others, that's how I stumbled across this particular book. 

To begin with the characters, I did enjoy reading about them all apart from a few that just irritated me. I believe Murakami himself has a similar basis for all the characters he writes, all of them are in some way or another related...? That makes no sense omg! To try and break that down, I feel like all his characters (in this book) are created from the same basis or same abstract view Murakami had for them. So in that sense, the characters left my mind a very pastel colour and just...bland. Consequently, I felt indifferent to the characters, I felt they were deep down the same. I don't like that. I really don't like that. The only stark contrast was between Midori and Toru, not to say that every book has to have characters that contradict and contrast each other but in the context of this novel because it is SO BLAND and dealt with a lot of grief and tragedy that you needed something... That something for me was the literature WHICH I ADORED but once I got attached to the plot line/story line, I started to care for these characters so much! Naoko was a wonderfully created character but there was just too much going on with her in my opinion. (can you tell I'm a fan of Toru and Midori?) 

Furthermore, the main character and two others really kept with me even after reading the book, in comparison to the other minor characters. My very wonderful friend - Emma - told me (after my thoughts and opinions were distraught after reading the book) that she felt the same. She had read a few other Murakami books and concluded that all the protagonists of his novels are the 'same'. After hearing this, my theory of how these characters stemmed from the same tree makes more sense or at least the idea that Murakami basis his main characters on himself? Or something/someone that shares the same characteristics, resulting in many of his protagonists being the same people. 

The plot and storyline was well developed and thought out until the ending, or rather the last few chapters. This book just gave me Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress flashbacks in relation to their endings. Although with Balzac, after I thought about it a year on I actually really liked the way it ended. Additionally, I had to study it a year ago for school so the analysis really got to me and I ended up complaining about the book so much but all in all it was lovely. I have the review of that here, it's a very old one. 

The writing is great. The whole reason I decided to read a book written by Murakami and Norwegian Wood in particular is because of the literature. He took me to a world where I was so engrossed into this book I couldn't fathom how hooked I was. It was written very, very, very well. Murakami has a way with words and I know I say that a lot with many authors but with him it's so true. 

When I started the novel, I was  98% sure I was going to rate it 5/5 stars, for many different reasons. One being the literature, the second was the characters I was attached too and the third, the world of Japan Murakami built inside my head. It was only till the last few pages and chapters did I become weary. I pulled myself from the world the book took me too and the feeling I got when I read the book and I had to analyse everything for what it was outside of the comfort of me reading the book. That was when I realised, it just pissed me off. Don't get me wrong! I really enjoyed this book when I started it and I fell in love with Midori one of the main characters involved in Taro's life but everything just go so... weird towards the end of the novel. Like what the hell??! I wholeheartedly don't know what to say about the ending and just everything leading up to that. Some people think it's genius and 'all in good literature' but seriously wtf. For me, it was a mixture of surprise in conjunction with dislike. It's been more than 3 months and my thoughts are still very distraught. 

ALL IN ALL, THIS IS A REALLY GREAT BOOK that really opened me up at a time I was enclosed within myself and my studies. Sorry I've been gone for so long! Let me know if you have read the book what you thought and whether you think these characters are super sketchy or if you love them! 

p.s

follow me on goodreads to find out what I'm reading next! 

Queen of Shadows #4 | Sarah J. Maas

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Ahh I don't know how to review this!

Current mood = Waiting for my face mask to dry, whilst listening to Can You Feel The Love Tonight by Elton John - bringing back my Lion King nostalgia. 

I went through a reading hiatus because of all the stuff that has just come about with life. I was reading this over summer...I think....or maybe it was the beginning of the year, I don't even remember! I just know that I read like half of the book and then I put it down for long enough for me to forget major aspects and the majority of the plot line, for that reason I wouldn't fully take this review into consideration to whether you want to read it or not. I just really wanted to get another review out for you guys cause I've been gone for so long. 

Although, I will review the whole of the book to my best ability. Queen of Shadows is a Young Adult, Fantasy novel. 

This is the goodreads synopsis: Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she's at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past . . .

She will fight for her cousin, a warrior prepared to die just to see her again. She will fight for her friend, a young man trapped in an unspeakable prison. And she will fight for her people, enslaved to a brutal king and awaiting their lost queen's triumphant return.

Celaena’s epic journey has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions across the globe. This fourth volume will hold readers rapt as Celaena’s story builds to a passionate, agonizing crescendo that might just shatter her world.

This book actually won the goodreads choice 2015 for young adult fantasy.

If you are curious, I don't have reviews on the first two books: Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight, as I read those before I started this blog. However, I do have a review of the third book: Heir of Fire - this is one of my favourite reviews on this blog so check that out, it's spoiler free! 

As this is the 4th book in the Throne of Glass instalment, there will be slight spoilers. To be honest, if you haven't read the last three, I don't know why you would be reading this review right now, but if you want a possible brief of the series and my thoughts on the whole series, I will go ahead and do that first. 

The first book is called: Throne of Glass, the second: Crown of Midnight and the third Heir of Fire, which I have a review of.

The series started off very ~fantasy~ and possible predictable and generic but I think after the first two books you really start to see where Maas intended for the series to carry on to. I started the series very naive and stupid really... I only read it for the romance and the 'love triangle' and not till the third book did I really appreciate the characters for who they were, the world building the the plot lines. the third book is by far my favourite, this one is also (don't get me wrong) VERY good, but I got side tracked and it was just slow reading for me. 

This book - the fourth in the instalment - was a little disappointing. It was really slow. Like really slow. At least for me! Towards the last 100 pages of the book, I started skimming and if you've been around my blog for sometime now you know how much I HATE SKIM READING BOOKS! But here I am....skim reading the last 100 pages because IT WAS SO SLOW I JUST WANTED TO FINISH IT. That is the main reason I gave it 3 stars. By no means is this a 'bad book'. Nevertheless will I continue with the series, it's just this book aided further understanding of the characters and where Maas would be taking the plot line, just - the book was so slow....I feel like it could have been written in like 300+ words rather than 500+. 

I love Manon Blackbeak. SHE IS SUCH A GOOD CHARACTER! I picture her so badass, she is just phenomenal. We are introduced to this new character Manon in the previous book (the third book), Heir of Fire, which I have a review of that here. I was enthralled by her from the beginning. She has such a nonchalant but devious and conniving nature; basically I'm in love with her and cannot wait for how she will further progress. (She is so great, I can't even.)

We can see CLEAR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT WITH ALL CHARACTERS! I have been saying this since the third book! Now into the fourth instalment and I will continue to belch this! !!! Everything is slowly but surely coming together nicely and I'm quite excited to see how this turns out. If you've read the first book or the second and aren't already hitched, I really recommend you to continue to the third book because that's where it all really comes together, the characters fully enlighten and everything just !!! comes together really well. The third book Heir of Fire is hands down my favourite so far. The main protagonist really comes so far from the first book. She is such an empowering, beautiful character...I am speechless. 

In my last review of the previous book....(here) I also talk about the writing. Sarah J. Maas has really evolved with the writing since the first book. The series has literally now become: follow-the-main-protagonist-and-sarah's-epic-writing! Because I'm telling you, she has really adopted the style of epic high fantasy literature in a young adult novel and she should really be proud! I haven't read much high fantasy but this has really steered me into the right direction for it. Maas's writing really captures that ~fantasy~ feel and having read all her books (mostly all of them), I am allowed to tell you how far her writing has come since Throne of Glass. I know many people stopped after that book because of the plot line that was just starting up and the way the book was written, all I can say is persevere through the first two and you will legitimately be mind blown by this stage. Yes, I found this book quite slow but nonetheless the plot is thickening and so MUCH IS HAPPENING/HAPPENED! To think these twists and turns and all that action would be here when I was still reading the first book, I would think you were flat out lying. Not only has the plot awakened and thickened, Maas's writing has developed and so have these characters.

This world and these characters are really worth it, I'm telling you!

Also, if I haven't already mentioned, I have a review of the third book! Heir of Fire. Which is like my favourite review ever, so like, go, like, check it out. Here, here and here.

I know I've been gone long, but would you believe me if I said I have like 4 posts in the drafts waiting to be published? Cause I do! Furthermore, I will be starting two new series on this blog. The first is called Colour Study, where I take books from my book shelves with a particular colour in mind and I compile them all, take pretty photos and tell you all about their ~stories~. Where I got them, what they are about and what they mean to me. The second series is called The Psychology Corner (how original), where I take books related to psychology or have psychological concepts and I address those alongside reviewing the book. As I want to pursue psychology, I thought this would be a great idea to share my opinions and thoughts about psychology in literature. So check out for those posts coming your way!

p.s

follow me on goodreads to find out what I'm reading next!