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  • Norwegian Wood

  • By: Haruki Murakami
  • Narrated by: Adam Sims
  • Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (494 ratings)

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Norwegian Wood cover art

Norwegian Wood

By: Haruki Murakami
Narrated by: Adam Sims
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

When he hears her favourite Beatles song, Toru Watanabe recalls his first love Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki. Immediately he is transported back almost 20 years to his student days in Tokyo, adrift in a world of uneasy friendships, casual sex, passion, loss and desire - to a time when an impetuous young woman called Midori marches into his life and he has to choose between the future and the past.

©2000 Haruki Murakami (P)2020 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about Norwegian Wood

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Poor narrating

Why is the same narrator reading out both the main character's and all the girls' lines? I find his voice/accent annoying as the MC already, but a male reading out a woman's lines sounds jarring on another level and is distracting me from the actual story.

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6 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

misogynistic and gross

Misogynistic sad-girl tropes all over this book. For me, it missed all the marks to be the enchanting coming-out-of-age novel I was expecting. I recommend it for lovers of Bukowski who like female characters to be submissive and sex scenes to be gross and vulgar.

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5 people found this helpful

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rly good

loved it. will read again when my heart glues back because this story is heartbreaking sometimes

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3 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely the wrong narrator. Unlistenable

Unfortunately, the narrator is a terrible choice for this book. His tone doesn't fit at all, and he completely mispronounces Japanese words. I couldn't listen to it, after only a few minutes in.

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2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great story but off putting narration

The book had been recommended to me by a friend so I stuck with it. I found the narration off putting. I had seen a review that said the women characters spoke strangely. I agree they spoke in a way that didn’t feel natural to me. All the way through I kept thinking I am going to have to read it myself.

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2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

narrator ruined a great book

never listening to another book by this narrator. made the female voice sound so creepy and kept rushing anything that was written poetically and making it sound meaningless

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2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Irritating reader

Adam Simms has some awful vocal fry. It became really grating as the novel went on.

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2 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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not for me

This isn't for me, my book club, or anyone else I can think of.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

An odd love story

I enjoy murakami books and I waited a while for this one to be narrated. Unfortunately I wasn't a major fan of the narration but it didn't distract from the story once I got used to it. The story is as weird as ever, but interesting! I was intently waiting to see what happens next so that's a good sign. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for an off kilter love story

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

good narration ignore others criticism

great book , good narration ignore others criticism he changes his voice for female characters

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1 person found this helpful

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  • Didem Kurtoglu Sahin
  • 30-09-23

Dissapointing narration

This is my second Murakami on Audible. Did not enjoy the narration at all. It was monotone.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • KalmarSheryl
  • 18-09-23

What can I say?

I love Haruki Murakami. Love him. However, because of the narration I couldn’t make it through the book. The whining and sarcastic tone of the narrator made no sense to me. I stopped listening but because of my adoration of Murakami I tried to be tolerant and gave it a second chance. After about 15 minutes I just couldn’t do it. It was like nails against a chalkboard for me. I even feel awful just complaining about this and because of my own lack of tolerance couldn’t listen to the rest of a very compelling story. The story was butchered by the narrator and I’m not sure why he should have read this story with a sarcastic and di standup tone of voice. Anyway, if unlike me you are able to listen to the narrator, I would highly recommend this book. Murakami never disappoints. As for myself, I will continue reading the book myself.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Sirkka-Liisa Rautioaho
  • 27-05-23

Very enjoyable!

This was my first Murakami but won’t be the last!
The tale was so effortless and easygoing, very intense without being forcefull in any manner.
The characters were as complicated and multi-faceted as people in real life are. I have a bona fide Midori in my social circles.
I went to Japan in 1979 and listening about the location brought back fond memories.
Performance was great too. Couldn’t have been a more approoriate voice for the lead guy, was it Watanabe, but all the other voices the reader used were just as fitting!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Alexander Dobrev
  • 28-02-23

Weird performance

I find narrating Murakami with such a heavy American accent rather weird. What makes things even worse is the way female characters are voiced. Before this title, I actually thought I'm quite accustomed to listening to fiction, but this will just scratch Murakami Audible for me.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • UCHENNA
  • 07-07-22

TO BE FORGOTTEN IS TO DIE.

I have put off listening to this book because I wanted to read a physical copy of it. But since I could not wait any longer, I plunged into its abyss. The characters in this book have one simple desire, to be remembered. And yet, they do everything in their power to be forgotten. And some succeeded.

I enjoyed this book, and I look forward to indulging its physical copy when I get back to Beijing. But until then, I will hold onto all of her citizens for as long as I can.

Thank you H.M.

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  • bini vinod
  • 05-12-20

Nostalgia

Autobiographical and full of memories of growing up. The depth and ease of his narration are amazing.

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