Shoeb Amin answers “Did anyone else cringe at the Reiko's...”

Jana asked this question about Norwegian Wood:

Did anyone else cringe at the Reiko's story of the young piano student? Maybe I am wrong but it seemed to me kind of a male-gaze, homophobic, child sexualizing... I did not appreciate that story. Maybe someone can offer me a different perspective

Shoeb Amin I do not think everything happens around us in real life makes sense and of-course many of them do not fit into our moral standard. I accepted it as a…moreI do not think everything happens around us in real life makes sense and of-course many of them do not fit into our moral standard. I accepted it as a story being told by Reiko to her roommate's boyfriend. We do not know if Reiko was telling the truth and if not what was her intention to tell the story to Toru. When I read the book it appeared to me that the writer wanted us to see the whole story from the point of view of Toru. He does not have the same moral standard as we have. He is a different person. The stories being told to him had different motives and those persons, each of them had different moral standard with their own psychological problems. (less)

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