Luong N’s Reviews > Phía Nam biên giới, phía Tây mặt trời > Status Update

The main character did a lot of internal dialogues, but he is just indespicable. A lot of his male protagonist seem to be written like that. I cannot root for or sympathise with him, sorry. Not saying being an only child makes you a selfish person, but this dude is definitely that.

Also, why does he write female characters like he only knew a couple of women in his life? I swear, a lot of them are just recycled version of each other, between his books...

Ok. This book did end in a better note than Nor Wood. I think it made more sense for it to end that way, a bit of reality questioning, and guilt searching. I did like it more. But, I definitely can't stand his recycled formula: a bit of nostagia, a bit of love triangle, a bit of explicit sex, some jazz music....
I dont think i'll keep this book. Reading it in public is quite embarrassing as it is. Score: 2.5⭐️

"The deepest and most moving novel of Murakami" said the quote on the cover - yeah right.

the story and the protagonists are very similar to what i've read in Carousel's Dead Heat, and even Norwegian Wood.

ah, you cant have a murakami novel without some very explicit sex scene