Author Topic: January book club: Norwegian Wood (1987, Haruki Murakami)  (Read 10679 times)

pixote

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Re: January book club: Norwegian Wood (1987, Haruki Murakami)
« Reply #20 on: February 04, 2010, 08:39:11 PM »
Maybe with Filmspot nominations over, I can finally start reading this ... even though January has come and gone.

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Abomination

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Re: January book club: Norwegian Wood (1987, Haruki Murakami)
« Reply #21 on: February 08, 2010, 09:22:27 PM »
I'd like to see a little bit kore discussion on this before we completely move on to Under The Dome.

Does anyone want to defend the idea that the ending is hopeful?

roujin

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Re: January book club: Norwegian Wood (1987, Haruki Murakami)
« Reply #22 on: February 08, 2010, 09:24:49 PM »
Does anyone want to defend the idea that the ending is hopeful?

I would join this discussion, but my friend has my copy of the book. I'm a little sad that there hasn't been more discussion since this is my favorite book of ALL TIME.

Abomination

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Re: January book club: Norwegian Wood (1987, Haruki Murakami)
« Reply #23 on: February 08, 2010, 11:33:37 PM »
this is my favorite book of ALL TIME.

Care to elaborate on why this is so?

I could definitely see it being up there for me as well the more that I think about it.

smirnoff

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Re: January book club: Norwegian Wood (1987, Haruki Murakami)
« Reply #24 on: February 09, 2010, 06:25:19 AM »
In general I felt the ending of the book was upbeat, in a realistic way.

Abomination

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Re: January book club: Norwegian Wood (1987, Haruki Murakami)
« Reply #25 on: February 09, 2010, 12:41:06 PM »
Do you think Watanabe can really recover completely from Naoki's death though? 

I think he would be completely crushed, and as much as I like Midori, she doesn't seem to be the most understanding and stable person.

smirnoff

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Re: January book club: Norwegian Wood (1987, Haruki Murakami)
« Reply #26 on: February 09, 2010, 01:52:22 PM »
Do you think Watanabe can really recover completely from Naoki's death though? 

I think he would be completely crushed, and as much as I like Midori, she doesn't seem to be the most understanding and stable person.

Here's my thinking:

For years Watanabe's life orbited Naoko's. Round and round he went knowing that his path would never put too much distance between them, and perhaps also recognizing that it would never allow him to get too close. In any case, with Naoko's sudden disappearance he was launched into uncharted space in whichever direction found himself heading at the time (Midori's as it happens). Will they collide, will he enter a new orbit, or will he merely be slingshotted off in another direction? Who's to say? Regardless of what happens between them it's better than the alternative, which is to sail off into cold and empty space, encountering nobody. This is why I feel it's a positive ending.

As for the last lines of the book I get the sense he's just bewildered by his new surroundings, a person looking at the stars and finding they've been rearranged.

Will he mentally recover? I think so. I look back to the point in the story when Watanabe is considering the whether he would ever kill himself. I can't find the actual passage but he makes it clear that no matter how bad things got he wouldn't escape that way. He'd deal with it. It's that general attitude that makes me believe he'll be able to move on.

Abomination

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Re: January book club: Norwegian Wood (1987, Haruki Murakami)
« Reply #27 on: February 09, 2010, 02:12:11 PM »
That's true, well said. I had forgotten about his thoughts on suicide.

I also remember that it is made clear that In the future Watanabe purposely distances himself from Nagasawa and is disgusted by him after his letter about Hatsumi's death, so perhaps he has strengthened himself over time.

However, I still just find it interesting that the book ends the way it does. It makes me draw similarities between Watanabe in Reiko, as she seems to be a very strong and independent person, but is prone to complete mental breakdowns something rattles her world. It does appear that she has regained herself by the end of the novel, but it also appeared that way for her before her piano pupil came into her world as well, so perhaps the same type of thing could be said for Watanabe?

smirnoff

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Re: January book club: Norwegian Wood (1987, Haruki Murakami)
« Reply #28 on: February 09, 2010, 02:21:38 PM »
Those are good points. Maybe we even saw a partial breakdown of Watanabe when he went off and just started wandering all over, not shaving, not eating enough. As you say, perhaps he has that same potential as Reiko, and just expresses it differently.

Is anyone else sad there wasn't one last chance encounter with Stormtrooper?

Abomination

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Re: January book club: Norwegian Wood (1987, Haruki Murakami)
« Reply #29 on: February 09, 2010, 02:40:11 PM »
Is anyone else sad there wasn't one last chance encounter with Stormtrooper?

I am, but I also like that he never turned up again. I think it shows Watanabe that he can't always rely on others, he no longer has new stories about him and thus must find his own voice to carry a conversation, and that he can learn from others without completely depending on them, in that Stormtroopers cleanliness habits left an impression on him.

 

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