amazing

Norwegian Wooden is true soulful story that will guide you down a truly heart breaking tale. Beautifully written and masterfully narrated.

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Not bad.

I only listened to this book because it is on a ‘100 books……’ poster. Haven’t read anything by the author before but from reading reviews I had the impression it may be a bit odd. However, it was just an average story, nothing gripping but it did hold my attention. Not sure about the ending though.

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Sad but excellent

Fantastic book, was enthralling but very sad. The voice actor did a decent job definitely worth a listen.

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narrator ruined a great book

never listening to another book by this narrator. made the female voice sound so creepy and kept rushing anything that was written poetically and making it sound meaningless

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2 people found this helpful

Good story, sub-par narration

Enjoyed the story, but the whiney nasal narration made every character sound petulant and unpleasant

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2 people found this helpful

Not sure what to think about it

The American narrator’s voice was weird, especially for women, who all sounded quite vulgar and sometimes completely puerile and/or capricious, usually stupid.
He couldn’t even bother to pronounce names properly (ex: Naoko pronounced Nay-o-KHP instead of Nah-o-Jo), which is quite unprofessional if you ask me. Just find out the correct Japanese pronunciation!
About the story… It takes place in the late sixties in a Tokyo university setting, The main character is a very ordinary guy, but everyone else around him seems extraordinary and/or crazy. Four suicides, two brain tumours, an OCD and probably autistic dormitory roommate, a cynical womaniser, a self taught child chef, a former piano child prodigy, a manipulative teen lesbian, many mental breakdowns, many sex scenes, some drafted political thoughts about communism and fascism… In the end I took it as a book about emotions, mental health, how we treat each other, and the the maturation of a boy in a society where sex seems problematic, either because it’s disrespectful and objectifies women without any regard for their feelings, or because it’s too early, or inappropriate, or not consensual, or painful, or doesn’t work… In the end, it causes hurt instead of love, and the main character seems to come to painfully realise that in the end, and chooses another path, probably more traditional.

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1 person found this helpful

Great Story Telling

I recently came across this book through an app that I am subscribed to. I am so glad that I did. I was so captivated by the narration, the characters and all their own stories. I loved it!

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Great book

I only read this because it’s meant to be on of Harry Styles’ favourite books. Although it is exceptionally well written, it’s too dark and twisted for my taste.

It was extremely atmospheric and once you start reading it’s hard to stop. I don’t know if I would like to read from this author again. Maybe something less unsettling.

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1 person found this helpful

Murakami is a huge horndog. I love it.

very developed characters, 10/10

The performance of the narrator in male voice is perfect but his female voice is reaching uncanny valley a bit.

I loved the book even more than Kafka On The Shore

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This Will Stay With Me

Life is so strange, and love is a million things. Our connections with people can’t be so easily summarised or categorised, but we give them names like “boyfriend” and pretend that explains what a person means to us. I wish I could experience this book again.

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