Norwegian Wood to become a film

Haruki Murakami's 'Norwegian Wood' coming to big screen › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

This is the best news. Norwegian Wood is one of my favorite novels of all time.

Unless the film comes out terrible. Then I'll cry.

Levian's Wood.

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According to the producers, the film will be directed by French-Vietnamese Tran Anh Hung, 46, and feature Japanese actors.

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Huh, interesting. I will probably go see it since I love international films. Note: not foreign films -- international films. There is a difference. :shiny:

I've been wanting to talk to a Murakami fan! I've only read one Murakami book, Kafka on the Shore, and while I enjoyed the writing the book was so bizarre and a lot of the bizareness was just sort of, eh, arbitrary, I guess? There were some truly strange things that happened in the book, but then there was actually no relevance for them to occur in the plotline (and no explanation as to why/how they occurred, but I was more concerned with how unnecessary the scenes were rather than whether they explained anything or not).

So, should I suck up how stupidly strange I found Kafka on the Shore? Are all of his books like this? Obviously you think Norwegian Wood is good, I need a fan to encourage me to read another one of his books. :p

I'm at work ATM so I can't give the wall of texte murakami explanation yet, but be prepapred for it. I will say though that Kafka is my least favorite Mutakami book and Norwegian Wood is the most "mainstream" and best book to start with as a foray into murakami.

EDIT: Okay, I'm home, so here it goes.

Murakami is a very quirky writer in that most of his novels are very surrealistic and most of his novels follow the format of "30 year old everyday average guy who searches for a missing wife/girlfriend. Befriends some weird young girl. Craziness ensues." You'd think that'd be the mark of a very uncreative writer, but if you read it, every novel is unique and fascinating. I'm a huge fan of Murakami.

With that said, I don't like Kafka on the Shore. It's probably the only Murakami novel that I wasn't crazy about. Rather, I don't like the part involving Kafka. If I could take the half of the novel involving Nakata and have it fleshed out into a novel the length of Kafka on the Shore, I'd be ecstatic.

Norwegian Wood is unusual in the sense that is not surrealist at all. It's probably Murakami's only novel that isn't surreal. It become enormously famous, though some hardcore Murakamites consider it a "sell-out" sort of book (I disagree with that), because it's very accessible to everyone.

It was the first Murakami book I read, and it's the one I recommend to anyone who is interested in reading his novels. It's kind of litmus test for Murakami - if you don't like Norwegian Wood, you probably won't like anything by him.

If you do like Norwegian Wood, I'd recommend going on to trying either Wind-Up Bird Chronicle or After Dark. Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a door-stopper of a book and VERY surreal, but is considered his "masterpiece" and most polished of his novels, which I agree with. After Dark is probably my favorite Murakami book - it takes place within one night and is written in the third person, which is very unusual for him. It's not extremely surreal.

If you go on to liking those novels, let me know. I'll send you my favorite short stories and other his stories I loved, like Sputnik Sweetheart.

I really hope you love him!!!!

I own the book, but haven't read it yet. I suck, I know. I will probably start reading it soon, though.

Also, as for the film - I found out about it a couple of weeks ago. Rinko Kikuchi from "Babel" is apparently playing one of the lead roles.

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Originally Posted by Shiny

Note: not foreign films -- international films. There is a difference. :shiny:

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well, go on, then.

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Originally Posted by Rye

If you do like Norwegian Wood, I'd recommend going on to trying either Wind-Up Bird Chronicle or After Dark. Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a door-stopper of a book and VERY surreal, but is considered his "masterpiece" and most polished of his novels, which I agree with. After Dark is probably my favorite Murakami book - it takes place within one night and is written in the third place, which is very unusual for him. It's not extremely surreal.

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I tried Wind Up Bird Chronicle and I just could not get through it. I don't think I'm a fan of surrealist writing. =/

Maybe give Norwegian Wood a try? You might like it that one. It's not surrealist in the least. It's a tear jerker though.

Thanks, Rye!

I don't mind surrealistic writing at all, but Murakami is a whole lot of surreal. With Kafka, I didn't really like/care about Kafka's character and how he randomly/for little reason thought that one girl was his sister, and I guess I was wondering WHY he had to sleep with his mother/"mother" figure, and then the whole Nakata being able to talk to cats and then he loses his ability to talk to cats, and that truck driver randomly having sex via Colonel Sanders "pimp service"...?

I will go read Norwegian Wood and read his books in the order you suggested, haha.

Hmmm, the only work of Murakami I have read (and own) is Wild Sheep Chase which was for a Japanese Culture class that was really a Japanese lit class in disguise. It was good if not a tad strange and by "a tad" I mean "a lot."

Though I have heard good things about Murakami in general and I don't have anything against him.