Norwegian Wood Readalong: Chapters 7 – 9

So, these chapters were not as sucky. Yay!

And you know WHY they weren’t horrible? Cause there was lots of Midori! She actually says in the very beginning of chapter 7:

“You look so spaced. C’mon, go drinking with me and get a little life into you.”

You go Midori! You put some life in that boy! Because on his own, Toru is a BORE.

Anyways, Toru & Midori hang out, and then later on they visit her dad in the hospital. That was actually probably my favorite part of the book, and cemented my love for Midori. Because even if she’s a little nuts, she’s a genuinely good person. It takes A LOT to sit there and take care of a dying relative. Seriously, I don’t even know if I could do that, which sounds horrible, but… whatever. It’s just such a sad situation, and reading about her and Toru taking care of her dad made me tear up just a little bit.

Let’s see, what else happens… Toru agrees to go on a celebration dinner with Nagasawa and his girl, Hatsumi. Which was a bad idea as soon as you looked at it, but whatever. And guess what Muraki throws at us? Another suicide. Seriously, what is this guys obsession with suicide? At least this one was a future suicide, so it doesn’t really happen in the story. Sadly, Hatsumi seemed like a rational person at first, but she clearly showed herself to be a girl who insisted in staying in a relationship with a cheating bastard, because she was “in love”. GROW A BACKBONE, WOMAN! Ugh.

Then Toru & Midori have a very weird hang-out / date – they go to watch some S&M porn at a theater, and Midori begs him to come home with her. (Psssst. Midori! You have a boyfriend, cut that crap out!) Which he does, but she passes out and he stays awake and reads all night. Good job Toru! At the very least, he’s a good enough guy that he doesn’t get busy with other guys’ girls.

And of course chapter 9 ends with another letter from Naoko, in which she hints about wanting to off herself. I wish she’d just do it already! And I wish Midori would dump her douche of a boyfriend, and Toru & Midori would start dating and be all happy. But silly me, I like for GOOD things to happen for characters in books, and Murakami seems to feel the opposite, so I’m sure that’ll never happen.

Sorry that this wasn’t really well thought-out. I read these chapters on Saturday and apparently all my articulateness just flies right out the window if I don’t write about it immediately. Anyways, I’m super glad the last two chapters are coming up. I’m so ready to be done with this book.

~Sarah