by Chris Pandolfi - Norwegian Wood is dreary, unfocused, and unreasonably slow-paced. It involves characters so dour and unlikeable that investing in them takes nothing less than sheer will power. They each find themselves in relationships so emotionally complicated that never once do we see a process of connection at work; we can only marvel at the fact that these people have somehow found their way into each other’s lives. Not only do we not understand their reasons for being together, but on the basis of what unfolds, no one...