3/5 Loved the writing, disliked the characters...

Norwegian Wood brought me to the conclusion that my relationship with Murakami's work is definitely a love/hate one.

Watanabe, Naoko, and Nagasawa are all detestable characters with no self-awareness regarding just how detestable they really are (Nagasawa aside, who is aware and proud of it too). Reiko and Hatsumi are the only two characters that are somewhat likeable—and even that is a stretch.

Despite the majority of the characters being unbearable, in their own respectful ways, the writing is the complete opposite. Overall, this was a good/great read but not one (in my opinion) that lived up to being Murakami being chased out of the Japan after this book gaining excessive attention and praise.

For me, this lays a little lower than some of Murakami's other work but that would not stop me from recommending it.