Dream Number 9 & The Reluctant Fundamentalist

I must admit that I have not read the entire The Reluctant Fundamentalist, however, from the passages I have read, I found them highly analogical to the narrative of Norwegian Wood. In fact, I did not have the pre-knowledge that this is going to be related to Murakami (although this course is based on him and his sources), but after reading for a couple pages, I started to notice the similarities between the two works. The most prominent detail that struck to me was when Erica disappears after the unsuccessful sex between her and Changez before she goes to an institution for treating her mental illness –this is already beyond being similar or an imitation of Norwegian Wood. Furthermore, a character who is similar to Reiko in Norwegian Wood also appears at the exact same timing as the latter, not mentioning the suicide of Erica and the death of her ex-boyfriend which left her a trauma. Furthermore, details such as Erica leaving her clothes before she attempts to suicide (assuming that is what she did) can also be seen in a more obscure way in Norwegian Wood as Naoko gives Reiko her clothes.

On the other hand, chapter 3 of Dream Number 9 can be seen as a proper imitation of Norwegian Wood, that is to say, the narrative between Nagazawa and Watanabe. As one of our classmates said, the story in Dream Number 9 seems to be unpacking one of the nights Nagazawa takes Watanabe out, and expands the night in more details. And the character Daimon also acts like Nagazawa whereas the protagonist’s naivety and innocence are also like that of Watanabe.

To compare the two works’ relevance to Norwegian Wood, the latter is far more acceptable because the former seems to be a copying and pasting, that there is almost no creativity. It almost felt like the author, Hamid, did not bother to change a tiny bit of detail to make the story more like his own rather than a parody. But the latter indeed pays more attention to details and the author was aiming to create a story with his own thoughts and ideas.  

Alice