Just finished listening to Norwegian Wood written by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin & read by James Yaegashi.
First thoughts first. Murikami is a complete perv. Not that I'm complaining much but there were a couple of awkward moments when I was stuck in traffic listening to a descriptive bj scene that made me laugh. Secondly, the narrator did a great job but the first couple of discs he kept making these small sounds every time he started to speak that sounded like his tongue was unsticking from the roof of his mouth. It was pretty distracting but either went away or I failed to notice it around disc 3 or 4.
Those two small thoughts out of the way the story was really good. Sad enough to put Jeff Buckley to shame but still beautiful and elegantly written. Murikami is amazing and I love how Japanese people think and the structure of their language. At least the translated versions as I don't speak a word of Japanese. Well technically I know konichiwa, number 1 & suitcase but that's about it. The way they'll say something then end the sentence with an affirming question is interesting. The story is about a young college student living in Tokyo Toru Watanabe who is dealing with a friends death and falls in love with two girls who both are dealing with some serious issues of their own. It's a coming of age story that is sad at times and uplifting at others while capturing the true confusing nature of growing up and never over simplifies the real situations the characters are going through. Murikami's descriptions of urban and rural Japan are amazing and just reinforce my desire to go there as one of the top places I'd like to go on a dream vacation.
As I was looking for a picture for this post I saw that the book was made into a movie in 2010 in Japan. I'll have to check it out.
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