Crack the Spine discussion

Great! I just ordered my copy...should be here in a couple days.

I am going to go pick mine up from the library today I believe so when will we be actually starting to read this? When we get our copies just read up to that page or what? Specific start date? You know just wondering.

Yay, just ordered mine! Excited to participate in my first group read. I tend to read a lot of books at once so I think having a group will help me actually stick with it, and I've been wanting to read a Murakami book for a while.

Ok, so I've been really enjoying the book. But Aomame's character sort of bothers me in that she seems a little trope-y so far. The strong-on-the-outside-but-secretly-damaged femme fatale, you know? Anyone have that feeling as well, or something similar?

Loving the writing and story so far. Not sure what to make of Aomame yet. I was definitely surprised when it turned out she was an assassin. I am a little behind. Only on page 100, but am hoping to catch up some tonight.

I am actually behind reading this with everyone since I just started this book early this morning. I am only on chapter four but some good points I would like to make are

- he is really descriptive in his writing. I can practically see it in my head while I am reading.

- he does concentrate on describing female characters way more throughly and even sexually than he does with the male characters so you can defiantly tell that he is a male writer. (This could have upsides and downsides)

- I feel like he just kind of through the assassin part of the story in there. I believe that there could have been a bit more build up to that. Didn't seem to flow as well as it could have to me.

- Tengo is a character that I believe will defiantly surprise us at some point but that is still to early to tell.

After finishing third section of our reading this week I am still concerned about his view of describing women versus men. He still greatly sexualizes the women is writes about.

Also the fact that the certain sexual incidences with the characters such anomame and her friend tamaki keep getting brought up through her different chapters. I only felt the third reference was actually an appropriate spot to mention it.

Tengo and this weird sexual vision of his mom just gets stranger when he describes have his older girlfriend dress up like her and then he relived himself almost instantly. I feel this might have taken it a bit to far and toward the creepy side.

However all in all for some reason I can't seem to put the book down and I am unclear why. It's like it's drawed me into the characters and I can't stop thinking about them however silly that sounds. It's like I am not invested in the outcome of these characters and eager to find out what is going to happen next.

In my last comment I meant to say I am now invested in the characters and ending of the story.

Typing on a phone has some real downsides lol.

So I finally read to page 212 a couple weeks late. I would say the first sex scene could be considered character development showing that she can only have casual encounters with the things she does. However, the second sex scene was really unnecessary and doesn't seem to serve a purpose unless it become important to the story later on. I think considering the length of the book it could have been edited out. My favorite character so far is Fuka-Eri, because she seemed so mysterious. I liked her even more once I knew her story.