ノルウェイの森 (上) - 村上 春樹 (Haruki Murakami)

In my last review I was saying that there are some authors that sound pedantic, that, while reading them, come out as people who seem to think too highly of themselves, and I put a particular group as an example of where you can find many of these authors. Well, I was kind of lying. Because while reading this first volume of "ノルウェイの森" ("Norwegian Wood") by Haruki Murakami, I got the same feeling: that the author thinks he is amazing, his writing amazing and he becomes intoxicated with his own words.

That is not to say that the book is bad or Murakami doesn't know how to write, because he does. But he becomes repetitive in the long soliloquies that many characters in this book say, and in how our 'hero' seems some kind of twisted male fantasy, with so many women relying on him to tell him their life stories. The style is good, dreamy, and there are some quite beautiful moments, but having a random character who we just met deciding to tell Toru all about themselves, reeks a little bit. And it is also kind of creepy.

Let's see how things evolve in the second volume (and yes, I read it around fifteen years ago, but I don't remember anything).

The best: the writing style

The worst: repetitive; all those female characters revolving around our Toru

Further reading: I preferred Murakami's "Sputnik Sweetheart" (I read it when I was way younger, though) or a smaller work like "東京奇譚集"; Shion Miura, Jaume Cabré... are other authors that remind me of him.

5.5/10

(Japanese)

Ventajas de viajar en tren - Antonio Orejudo

As it just happened to me with the Kjartan Fløgstad's book I read before this, this is one book that left me with the feeling the author is a snob that thinks too much of himself. It may be just me, but normally, when this feeling happens while I am reading a book, it is always a white, middle-aged man (it can be younger or older, but the white man is almost always there). It may be just me, but "Ventajas de viajar en tren" just feels like an ego-trip from someone who thinks they are SO smart.

The story, to call it something because this is one of those stories within stories type, starts with a woman going home in a train. And I will leave just there, because even if I felt the author squandered his opportunity, I don't want to tell more than I already did.

And why didn't I like it? Because, as I said, the writing style felt too full of itself, snobby and posh. And the 'story' per se is not so interesting as Orejudo seems to think it is, repetitive, a little creepy (very, and not in a good way) and not particularly smart. With so many better works out there, it feels pointless to read this.

The best: I have a weakness for the story within story mold

The worst: snobby, repetitive, poor writing style, creepy

Alternatives: well. the obvious one is Jan Potocki's "Manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse"; if you have already read it, you can try...: Kjartan Fløgstad, David Foster Wallace, Virginia Woolf, Karl Ove Knausgård, Margaret Atwood, Shiwon Miura, Kôtarô Isaka, Jaume Cabré...

4/10

(Spanish)