This might no doubt come across as petty and pedantic and I guess it is so but I'm genuinely so annoyed that I'm considering not even starting/continuing this book.
I'm referring to Murakami's Norwegian Wood, which was going to be my first Murakami. After a long while, I decided to give his books a shot recently and I bought Kafka on the Shore and Norwegian Wood as my first forays into his oeuvre. This morning, I read the introductions for both and decided to go with Norwegian Wood first.
The book opens with a 747 landing in Hamburg and then the narrator drops this pearl: "I straightened up and looked out of the window at the dark clouds hanging over the North Sea, ...". Now, I don't live in Hamburg (however, I've been there) and my geography knowledge is abysmal at best but all I could think of was "how is that possible, Hamburg isn't that close to the sea". I checked and sure enough, the North Sea is over 100km away from the Hamburg airport.
I checked the previous paragraph again to see if I misunderstood and if the plane is still in the process of descending but no, the second paragraph starts with "Once the plane was on the ground", so we're definitely on the ground.
As I said, this is probably pedantic but the carelessness is so jarring. I thought about whether I would pick up on such inaccuracies if it was a place I knew absolutely nothing and of course I wouldn't and would continue merrily on my way but this one I picked up and all I can feel is being let down somehow.
Anyone else had similar experiences? Maybe with Murakami, maybe with other authors/books? Do I get over myself and power through or do I just choose another book?
Edit: After replying to a couple of comments, I think I need to clarify what exactly it is that bothers me so. It's not that the inaccuracy is vital to the plot, I know that what I reported above is just a minor mistake. But it just points to carelessness to me. It's like a piano student showing up for a lesson and completely ignoring dynamics or a full section.
Edit 2: Many zealous commenters have tried to convince me that it is possible to see clouds 100km away on a cloudy day and then attacking me personally, I will no longer be responding to these.
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