Norwegian Wood Readalong - Chapters 7-9

Almost done with Norwegian Wood!  (Alice's Readalong here!)

This time it's Toru and Midori, because they are much, much cuter together than the angst we had to deal with in last week's reading.

I love how outspoken and uninhibited Midori is with Toru.  She won me over last week when she confessed that she saved money for cookware rather than buy a new bra because no one else cared about the knives and pots she wanted.  We learn more about her as she takes the bus with Toru to Shinjuku just to get her afternoon drink on and we see that she's got deep issues of her own but takes them on like champ when she's tending to her father in the hospital.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the womanizing and apathetic Nagasawa gives me more reasons to hate on him.  In chapter 8, he pretty much elaborates on his philandering ways... in front of his girlfriend Hatsumi.  It was even more frustrating that Toru just sat there during that awful, awkward dinner, listening in on this degrading conversation and not being of much help.  After the dinner, he shoots pool with Hatsumi just like he did with Kizuki the night before he died.  It's as if he receives another shot at saving a friend, but as a guy who is accustomed to being the sidekick (Kizuki, Midori and Nagasawa), he's at a loss for words and can only offer small talk during these situations.

Chapter 9 - again, weird.  Midori's TMI moments are waaaay too much for me, but her silliness and honest "charm" keeps reeling me in.  Despite the fact that her parents are gone from this world, she works to keep a struggling bookstore open, is full of life, and keeps a brilliant smile close at hand.  It's the polar opposite of how Naoko has not really dealt with deaths of her loved ones.  Next week - the close!