comparing NORWEGIAN WOOD with NORMAL PEOPLE

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[centbiggestfan]

thank you this was really helpful i’m doing my english dissertation comparing normal people and norwegian wood.

[angelaholmes]

I haven't read either books but I'm planning on reading beautiful world where are you in may and read Norwegian wood this summer

[joeytherabbit]

I totally agree on the point that the protagonist gets rewarded many times in norwegian wood even though he does weird stuff.
I compare this to the book the catcher in the rye where the protagonist is terrible but he is never rewarded for it. The book makes the point that the person is unlikable. However with norwegian wood it feels like we are supposed to sympathize with the main character even though he is bad

In norwegian wood, a point has been made several times that people need to understand each other yet very little insight is given into the thoughts and feelings of the characters

[Vita]

let me tell you, when i was searching for book reviews on "norwegian wood" i almost gasped when i read the title of your video because i had the exact same thought while reading it. i just kept thinking that, well, murakami tries to describe human relationships, but fails while sally rooney succeeds. i also was bothered by how unrealistic his female characters seemed (as though he's never interacted with a woman who wasn't obsessed with sex, honestly) and how watanabe's thoughts were almost never revealed. to me that's just bad writing. also reiko's story with her younger piano student... so, so problematic. btw, you didn't read "conversations with friends" but i just have to point out the similarities in their endings: when watanabe calls midori, confesses and she asks him "where are you?", and when nick in "conversations in friends" comes to francis in the end.
i really loved your video! ❤

[mukeka]

I haven't read Normal People, but I loved the series, watched it twice. I've read Norwegian Wood 7 times I think, it's my favorite book and Toru Watanabe is probably my favorite character in fiction. I like that he is listless, has no direction in life, no convictions, no motivation, no self-reflection. He randomly selects his major in uni, doesn't interact with the student movement that nearly everyone around him gets behind and so on. He seems to have no agency within his own life, just drifting through scenes he happens to end up in. He is the kind of character that is outside any scale of morality. I don't think you can say he is a bad person because he doesn't appear to have any intent behind his actions.

[tawnyman]

Fun fact about Murakami: he won an award for the worst sex scene in 2011 for his book 1Q84 🙃😅

I read Norwegian Wood when I was 18 and enjoyed it at the time (minus the scenes that scarred me for life) but it has not aged well in my head at all. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he was writing realistically misogynistic characters given the ages of his narrators. Much life experience and several Murakami books later I came to the conclusion that he just writes in a misogynistic lens. His books fail because his female characters are never fully realized, always he describes their bodies in a voyeuristic fashion. Rooney works because she has characters who exist outside of the scenes they are in, and even if things are uncomfortable, things are still described with respect for both the characters and the reader (same could be said for Abercrombie)

Sorry for the long comment haha, just really enjoyed the video 😅

[niebieskie]

Haven't read or plan to read either of these, but I just love your videos so here I am

[Jo_B_art]

I've read both and hadn't considered the similarities before. The lack of thought and direction from the protagonist in Norwegian Wood didn't bother me that much but the sexism and writing of women made me hate it.

[themisterceapa]

I mean yeah, the main character is self-loathing, manipulative somewhat and self-apologetic. However, I don't understand the critique of the book as sexist if it's written from a perspective on a man being brought up during the late 60s / early 70s.
Wouldn't the main character be expected to have an underlying level of mysogony

[andrewf]

Good video. Neither book has been on my radar as they don't appeal to my reading taste, but I'm tempted to try Normal People since it's part of the cultural zeitgeist just to form my own opinion. This video certainly helps set my expectations.

[marydarko]

this video showed up in my recommended and I'm guessing it's cause i've read both books except I immensely enjoyed norwegian wood but didn't find normal people engaging at all, so I'm very excited to hear your viewpoint

[johnsaxongitnolife]

I really enjoyed watching this video please stay safe and enjoy your reading love you and your amazing channel love your family friend John xxx

[la_chak]

Interesting! I didn't like Normal People and semi-liked Norweigian Wood even though the sex and women characters were written so weird (and objectified, you're right!). But I actually like that the NW character shows us his entire world but doesn't give us any clue about who he really is. He keeps himself very closely guarded, which is probably why he is unable to form proper relationships with the women (he jumps from one to another, with seemingly the same love for them all). He is damaged goods but doesn't know or believe it. That's my reading of it. NP characters on the other hand feel like they were complicated for the sake of being cool. All of Sally Rooney's books are the same; empowered characters looking for problems to complicate their lives. Again, just my opinion :)

[osoisko]

At first I was like, "Is Liene making a video about her dislike for wood products from Norway 🇳🇴?" 😆

[HouseHooligan]

Nothing I have heard about Murakami tempts me to read his work. All people who like him ever tell me is “he’s brilliant, ” and that vague praise is not enough to outweigh the negatives I’ve heard. I’d be more tempted to read Normal People, but my standard position is I don’t need to read about toxic relationships; my personal education on that front has been entirely sufficient. 😅

[eriklonnrot]

Maybe it’s because we’re millennials?🤷🏻‍♀️ I haven’t read Norwegian Wood (and don’t plan to), but Normal People is a snapshot of young adulthood at a particular time and place. (Although I also understand the annoyance with it being touted as _the_ millennial novel.) Maybe Norwegian Wood would resonate more if you were a boomer and came into adulthood during the time depicted in the book? Probably also helps if the reader is a straight man …