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People in Japan complain about his works as well, Phrodrick. It's not just Westerners who find his works troubling. And culture is never an excuse for immoral behavior, it really is atrocious to make that argument. We're all a product of our generation and culture and communities, but immoral and unethical views and acts aren't any less immoral and unethical.
Murakami chooses to focus on the juvenile traits of women in his books, and that is truly troubling. A lot of the ways in which he describes sexual acts and how his characters view women can be disturbing. I've only read his short story collections, but in almost every one of his short stories, women are sexualized in some way or another, often with no purpose for either narrative or character.
I hardly ever DNF a book and I found Murakami's hyperfixation, and a juvenile one at that, on breasts to be so off-putting, that I began to question whether I would finish the novel. What made me DNF it was that breast obsession, as well as the fact that - with no nuanced discussion of or portrayal of how a person's identity is intersectional and complex - he makes Aomame say repeatedly that she's "not a feminist." A feminist is literally someone who believes that women have the same human rights as men, which Aomame clearly does. It might be possible that she doesn't understand the philosophy of feminism or want to identify as one because it's been unfairly stigmatized to be a "feminist." But does Murakami delve into any of that in any fashion? No. He just goes on to have her and her friend Ayumi repeatedly engage in same sex encounters and then say they're "not lesbians." Same deal, perhaps they don't want to identify as "lesbians" for some complex reasons. But does Murakami delve into any of them? No. It's as if the narrative has been written by someone who's learned about sex/sexuality/philosophy from the Dear Penthouse Forum letters. Just abysmal.
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People in Japan complain about his works as well, Phrodrick. It's not just Westerners who find his works troubling. And culture is never an excuse for immoral behavior, it really is atrocious to make that argument. We're all a product of our generation and culture and communities, but immoral and unethical views and acts aren't any less immoral and unethical.Murakami chooses to focus on the juvenile traits of women in his books, and that is truly troubling. A lot of the ways in which he describes sexual acts and how his characters view women can be disturbing. I've only read his short story collections, but in almost every one of his short stories, women are sexualized in some way or another, often with no purpose for either narrative or character.
I hardly ever DNF a book and I found Murakami's hyperfixation, and a juvenile one at that, on breasts to be so off-putting, that I began to question whether I would finish the novel. What made me DNF it was that breast obsession, as well as the fact that - with no nuanced discussion of or portrayal of how a person's identity is intersectional and complex - he makes Aomame say repeatedly that she's "not a feminist." A feminist is literally someone who believes that women have the same human rights as men, which Aomame clearly does. It might be possible that she doesn't understand the philosophy of feminism or want to identify as one because it's been unfairly stigmatized to be a "feminist." But does Murakami delve into any of that in any fashion? No. He just goes on to have her and her friend Ayumi repeatedly engage in same sex encounters and then say they're "not lesbians." Same deal, perhaps they don't want to identify as "lesbians" for some complex reasons. But does Murakami delve into any of them? No. It's as if the narrative has been written by someone who's learned about sex/sexuality/philosophy from the Dear Penthouse Forum letters. Just abysmal.
So your real problem is that Murikami is not an American writing in 2017?
Could it be that he is writing what works in his culture and time and unaware of you in yours?
Do we apply this to Huck Finn and Jim?