Norwegian Wood
Wendy:
I started off enjoying the book, the
writing style was easy to read and descriptive, however I found (the style)
then changed and it didn’t translate well.
I found the book to be very destructive- in the sense of the
characters and relationships, which gave me an overwhelming feel that the
author’s personal views of women (and not liking them) was a strong message he
wanted to portray; whether deliberately or not.
The sexual nature of the book was far too descriptive; the
in-depth details were unnecessary and excessive; a suggestion of sex would have
worked just as well.
The book gave me a great visual sense of Japan; I could
imagine the characters and places well and the author writes well, however the
book does not inspire me to read any of his other novels and it is not
recommendable.
David:
I really enjoyed Norwegian Wood; I found it to be uplifting
and particularly enjoyed the Asian influences and cultural references.
I can imagine the book to be a story of a fantasy rather
than a memory, which would adapt well to a play script.
He writes with solitude and depression but this works well
with the theme of the book; I found the book non-relatable to teenagers as it
is quite mature; the sexual scenes were too graphic and unnecessary.
Overall Norwegian Wood has inspired me to read a further two
of Murakami’s works adding Norwegian Wood to my favourite list.
Ann:
I found the book to be full of angst and depression which
didn’t uplift me. I think the book is more of a young person’s one as I
couldn’t relate well to it and the sexual scenes were too graphic which made
the book distasteful.
Overall, it is not something I would read again however
Murakami writes well; he is very descriptive and I could imagine the characters
well.
Sharon:
From the start I immediately disliked this book and couldn’t
bring myself to finish it. I found it too stilted and I couldn’t relate to it.
Murakami is TOO descriptive making the book difficult to read and understand.
Sherlock:
English is not my first language therefore I joined the club
to help me with my reading and gain a better understanding; this book has done
that for me. I found it quite depressive at points but I enjoyed that as a
theme.
The book was easy to read and the Nook provided helped me with
words I did not understand (the accompanying dictionary) and overall I would
recommend it to my friends.
The Catcher In The
Rye
The overall feeling from the Catcher In The Rye was the
group enjoyed it a lot more than what they did Norwegian Wood; the book was
much more innocent, funny and relatable. David found the book quite sad and he
felt sorry for the main character, Wendy found the book well written in the
sense of his obvious depression and Salinger’s gift for truly staying in
character throughout.
The book is much more innocent and childish than Norwegian
Wood is; the use of the same language from Holden made it quite irritating at
times; Nick found it quite difficult to read when the same type of language was
continuously used and he also found the book made him reflect on his personal
life.
The group recognised that the writing styles are very
similar and perhaps Murakami is trying to impersonate Salinger, whether done
deliberately or not.
Overall they are great books to contrast and compare to one
another; the running themes are the same but their views on family,
relationships and life seem to be at differing ends of the spectrum.
Great views and a great discussion everyone!
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