After reading chapter 6 of Norwegian Wood, I find it interesting how central a theme sex is in this book. I don’t think it is a bad thing to mention sex in a book about college students, it makes sense. However, I think the frequency and how sex shows up overshadows other interesting parts of the novel. It also comes off as self-insert fanfiction. Like, Midori’s whole fantasy being Toru trying to have sex with her against her will just made me question who he was writing this for. Moments like this and Reiko’s lesbian “sex” scandal could all partially be explained by the book being a product of its time. It could also be that Murakami used sexuality to transition into realism as a writing style. Even with this in mind, I still can’t help but to I feel like his portrayal of sex was just odd, and it felt like sex would randomly take over certain scenes. When Reiko was explaining her having another mental breakdown and having to leave her marriage, the main point of that story was “lesbian sex,” instead of the fact that the person she was having sex with was 13. It could’ve gone into any feelings of remorse or even how she would deal with it as a mother, but no, the only time her daughter was properly mentioned was when she was worried about getting caught. It almost feels as if sex is used as a transition between topics. First, Toru and Midori are talking about Naoko, and then she immediately starts talking about porn movies. Midori’s dad dies, and she ends the call asking about porn movies again. I just wonder what this story would be like if sex were included differently and how the characters would change as a result. I also wonder if this is common amongst Murakami's stories as a first-time reader.
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