Norwegian Wood

By: Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin

Narrated by: Adam Sims

Brought to you by Penguin.

When he hears her favourite Beatles song, Toru Watanabe recalls his first love Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki. Immediately he is transported back almost 20 years to his student days in Tokyo, adrift in a world of uneasy friendships, casual sex, passion, loss and desire - to a time when an impetuous young woman called Midori marches into his life and he has to choose between the future and the past.

©2000 Haruki Murakami (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Dissapointing narration

This is my second Murakami on Audible. Did not enjoy the narration at all. It was monotone.

Weird performance

I find narrating Murakami with such a heavy American accent rather weird. What makes things even worse is the way female characters are voiced. Before this title, I actually thought I'm quite accustomed to listening to fiction, but this will just scratch Murakami Audible for me.

Nostalgia

Autobiographical and full of memories of growing up. The depth and ease of his narration are amazing.

What can I say?

I love Haruki Murakami. Love him. However, because of the narration I couldn’t make it through the book. The whining and sarcastic tone of the narrator made no sense to me. I stopped listening but because of my adoration of Murakami I tried to be tolerant and gave it a second chance. After about 15 minutes I just couldn’t do it. It was like nails against a chalkboard for me. I even feel awful just complaining about this and because of my own lack of tolerance couldn’t listen to the rest of a very compelling story. The story was butchered by the narrator and I’m not sure why he should have read this story with a sarcastic and di standup tone of voice. Anyway, if unlike me you are able to listen to the narrator, I would highly recommend this book. Murakami never disappoints. As for myself, I will continue reading the book myself.

TO BE FORGOTTEN IS TO DIE.

I have put off listening to this book because I wanted to read a physical copy of it. But since I could not wait any longer, I plunged into its abyss. The characters in this book have one simple desire, to be remembered. And yet, they do everything in their power to be forgotten. And some succeeded.

I enjoyed this book, and I look forward to indulging its physical copy when I get back to Beijing. But until then, I will hold onto all of her citizens for as long as I can.

Thank you H.M.