Norwegian Wood

Murakami is someone I've never fully embraced, yet keep coming back to. I don't like some of the fantastic and surreal elements of his writing, but I'm also drawn by the energy, intelligence, and inventiveness of it. And I also love how he infuses his work with elements of Western culture, especially music. Norwegian Wood is a straight-on story about love and loss, and coming of age. It's not cluttered by any surrealism or fantasy. And it's loaded with musical references to classical and jazz, as well as the Western rock music of the late sixties. (As the title would suggest.) Thus, Norwegian Wood was exactly the right Murakami book to pick up next, the one book to push me further into his work. It tells the story of Toru Watanabe, a college freshman living in Tokyo. Like many young men his age, he doesn't know what he wants to do with his life, and majors in drama for no real reason. And like many men his age, women both complicate and clarify things. He has relationships with two completely different women: the troubled and introspective Naoko and the outgoing and spunky Midori. Naoko poses the most trouble for Toru for many reasons. First, she's the ex-girlfriend of Toru's best friend in high school, Kizuki, who committed suicide at 17. Kizuki's death had a major impact on both friends. For Naoko, she lost not just a boyfriend, but someone she had known since childhood, someone who had become almost a part of herself. For Toru, his friend's suicide changed his perspective on life, filling everything with the taste of death. `Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it', becomes his new motto. So when Toru and Naoko meet again, accidentally, on the subway, there's a connection, but a troubled one. The ghost of Kizuki hangs over them. They begin with odd walks through the city, Toru trailing Naoko like a puppy. But eventually a form of love develops. Once things eventually come to a head on her 20th birthday, their relationship becomes further complicated as Naoko runs away to a kind of sanatorium in the mountains over Kyoto. Months pass before Toru even knows where she's gone, and he lives in a sort of limbo, going to school, working at a record store. Waiting. Meanwhile, he meets Midori, a fellow drama student. They form an immediate bond, though she has a boyfriend and has her own problems with her troubled family life, including a father dying of brain cancer. They become fast friends, and Toru finds himself attracted to her despite the pain he still feels at the loss of Naoko. Of course, Naoko muddies the waters again by writing him to tell him where she is and inviting him to visit. There he meets Naoko's roommate, Reiko, an older woman with a talent for music. The three spend much time sitting around while Reiko plays guitar for them, including Naoko's favorite song, Norwegian Wood. In a sense, Reiko becomes the third woman in Toru's life, because she is open, and they develop a friendship in his short time there. With Naoko, he learns some more about her issues, but just enough happens to keep him connected to her, not enough to resolve their love. He is still in a limbo. Murakami teases the frustrations of this state out of Toru. Toru agonizes over his dilemma, stuck between a woman he loves but can't have and a great woman he can have. Midori begins to fall for him and pressures him. But he's waiting for something to happen. Of course, something does. But then what? Has he waited too long? This is a great story, but it is further strengthened by great characters. Besides Toru and Midori, whose honest, straight-forward manners combine with deep vulnerabilities to make them both irresistible, Murakami fills the landscape with great supporting actors as well. Reiko steals each scene she walks into. Toru's anal roommate "Storm Trooper" makes for some good laughs, and is a great source of conversation for Toru. Nagasawa is a privileged student of an elite university who is drawn to Toru through a shared love of Western literature and uses his influence to help Toru out of a few jams. Yet his arrogance and womanizing also adds a layer of complexity to the friendship, as these traits both compel and repulse Toru. The characters really make this book hard to put down. Norwegian Wood is a great read and will definitely keep me on the path to reading more Murakami.

Bottom Line First: Haruki Murakami’s fifth book, Norwegian Wood was his break out book as a major Japanese novelist. It is not the fantasy reality of his later works. This is a more personal book and more focused on people, moods and feelings. It has serious emotional depth and some wasted space. Were I not coming into this book as a fan, I am not sure I would have determined to read all of his titles. Recommendation a definite read for like minded fans, a bit troublesome for the uninitiated but a good story of a time place and age. The narrator and central character of Norwegian Wood, Toru Watanabe is a relatively impecunious collage freshman in a lessor Japanese collage. He is socially withdrawn and emotionally uncertain. He was the last person to see his very close childhood friend before the friend committed suicide and through him he has a very close feeling for his late friend’s girlfriend Naoko. They are both survivors of the suicide and both having to understand who they are absent this person who had been their common center. Much of this 400 page novel is about Watananbe trying to understand who he is and how he best fits into the lager world after leaving home. This world is the Japan of the 1960’s where student can take over the campus and politics as much as money influence your social standing. He is has a powerful bond with Naoko and will become deeply involved with a stronger, elusive female college classmate Midori. Watanabe is alternately a good person, instantly able to, for example, identify with and bond with Midori’s dying father. He is just as capable of using his socially adept and well healed collage chum to cruise the bars to pick up and sleep with random faceless women. He does not like any of his male classmates and he has a particular distaste for the man he uses for a variety of favors. Most of Norwegian Wood is about how Wanatabe alternately indulges and pushes himself while allowing events and people to flow around him. He is capable of being very gentle and understanding. Or he is being passive and accepting. One expects that he would make a very good psychotherapist, or at least a counselor of some type. For all this the word I kept associating with him was ‘Passive”. I have to agree with other reviewers who feel this book has been padded out. It may be that in the original, many of the overly detailed descriptive passages are lyrical, but too often I found them a needless demand on my time. Murakami can set a mood and bring you into people’s minds but at this point he is not always sure why he brought you there. Norwegian Wood s early Murakami. It is not his best. He will keep many themes and backgrounds in later works. I liked this book, even if at times, I wanted Watanabe to take a stand, to take charge and for the writer to speed things up.

Over the years I have read a wide range of genres. Doing so has certainly added to my enjoyment but doubt any reader would claim doing so makes them anything special LOL. What it means is that life is complicated, that there is no one size fits all, that tracking down a murderer can be entertaining but so can entering the inner workings of the mind of certain characters, in this case students outside the mainstream, loners who do not fraternize and party with their peers. It is also interesting what attracts readers to a book. For me it was the title, then the description since I was unfamiliar with Haruki Murakami a the time. Thankfully that has now changed. Others have very adequately summarized the plot of Norwegian Wood so let me just say this is a literary book. There are no serial killers or car chases in it. For that I read one of several masters of the action genre, Barry Eisler for example. What is in this book is an interesting look at how hard growing up can be for some young people. According to statista.com there were 12.5 to 13.2 suicides per 100,000 in the population between 1950-1970, the period (60's) covered in this book. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services: "The suicide rate among people aged 10–24 . . . increased 62% from 2007 through 2021 (from 6.8 deaths per 100,000 to 11.)" Why do young people end their lives? Why? There is no one-reason-fits-all explanation but in my opinion this book allows us to visit what happens to its characters in this particular age group. Each person is well presented within his/her own parameters/psychosis and that includes the 13 year old female. Children like that do in fact exist. I label them negative manipulators. They learn very early how to manipulate themselves into and out of any situation, always to the detriment of those caught up in one of the negative manipulations. A John Steinbeck novel, "East of Eden," has such a character and there was such a person in my neighborhood when growing up. All 13 year olds do NOT behave as we wish them to. In fact, few people will fit into a predetermined ideal of what we think them to be. I do not like SPOILERS but they seemed to flow out of me anyway while writing this. So, then, please note that the remainder of this post contains SPOILERS. Interpretation of events and even written words varies from individual to individual. It appeared to me that Naoko did not refute Toru's advances on his visit and even noted that for the first time ever she got wet, a fact she discussed with him afterward. She improved off and on for a time before starting the downward slide once again. While in the free-form type sanatorium she seemed to enjoy Toru's visits. He visited at her invitation. She kept his letters. What tipped her over the edge was not clear as she even worsened under more advanced care at another sanatorium. Prior to ending her life she did note that she did not want to be violated again which I took to mean loss of control. A matter of perspective? When one thinks on it, it is a miracle so many of us survive the growing-up process and become productive adults. Tragically, Kizuki and Naoko did not survive but it appears that Reiko has a chance since she left the sanatorium. Will Midori and Toru make it and do so together? Another character, Nagasawa, had well developed aspirations so he seems to be headed off into the land of adulthood on his own terms. Realistically but tragically, unhappy people like Naoko decide to end their lives. Even so, literary books like Norwegian Wood will not appeal to everyone but for those of us who enjoy a good literary read, then this book is highly recommended. I look forward to reading other Murakami books.

The perfect book to get you out of a reading slump when you want something calming yet gripping. A story that gently pulls you in and stays with you long after. Definitely a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read!!

First I have to say I love Murakami. The first book I read of his was 1Q84 and since then have been on a mission to read everything else he's written. And I've moved happily from one book to the next. Until this one. If you're new to Murakami do yourself a big favor and either skip this one, or go read The Wind Up Bird Chronicle first. If this had been my introduction I might've never read another word. Here's the plot in a nutshell without giving away the ending (which is not all that shocking so don't get too excited): Male protagonist -- a typical Murakami protagonist in that he's a very ordinary, nice, and unambitious guy who stuff seems to happen to for no particular reason-- is hopelessly in love with a beautiful, soft and empty headed woman for reasons the novel never makes clear or sympathetic. In love that is, with all the white-hot passion you could imagine feeling for your favorite statue. They're barely ever involved sexually and neither one of them seems all that eager to be. They just want to "be together" and "have a talk." What deep things to they discuss? Not much, I'm sorry to tell you. In fact they hardly talk at all. Most of the talking happens between our hero and the woman's roommate who, though annoying in her own ways, at least has a pulse. That's more than can be said for either the protagonist or his "love." Halfway through I realized I didn't really like or care about any of these people and seriously considered stopping. But my faith in Murakami made me press on. And it did get a bit better, mostly thanks to the character of a young, vivacious and spunky woman who, for reasons that are again unclear, falls hopelessly in love with our hero. That and the "drama" that sort-of created was enough to make the second half much better than the first. Still...not his best work.

Brief Description: At the start of the book, we meet Toru the businessman on an airplane. As he is getting ready to deplane, he hears the Beatle's song, Norwegian Wood, and it transports him back to the past--to the late 1960s when Toru was a quiet and serious college student who kept mostly to himself. However, a chance encounter with a girl from his hometown, Naoko, leads to a strange and unclassifiable relationship. The two are bound together by the suicide of a mutual friend years before, whose death continues to haunt their lives. Although Toru is doing his best to adapt and fit in with the world, Naoko struggles and eventually seeks help at an asylum. Toru, who finds himself bound to Naoko in ways he doesn't fully understand, is confused when he also finds himself drawn to a sexually liberated and outspoken fellow student, Midori. As Toru attempts to balance his commitment to Naoko and his attraction to Midori, he finds that he can only be free when (as the song says) "This bird has flown." My Thoughts: OK ... I'll be upfront about why this book didn't work for me as much as it could have or I wanted it to. The main problem is that I was super-excited to try one of Murakami's fiction books and was prepared and pumped up for weirdness and alternate universes and talking animals and, unknowingly, managed to pick the one fairly straightforward book that Murakami wrote. (I only found this out afterwards. If only I'd read the blurb that said this book was "a complete stylistic departure" from his mysterious and surreal novels!) So, I was hoping for surrealism and found, instead, realism. Not to say this was a bad book, but it wasn't what I was expecting or hoping for. (Apparently, I should have chosen The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles or A Wild Sheep Chase instead.) The writing is graceful and fluid, and the story was accessible. Although tinged with melancholy and surprisingly graphic sex scenes/talk, Norwegian Wood ended up being a memorable and haunting coming of age story. It also evokes the strangeness and melancholy of the titular song.

Chapter 1 of Norwegian Wood takes the reader to a different place. A place where some memories are clear and others vague, where the distinction between truth and reality is unclear, like a dream where it is hard to get a total grip on things. Middle aged Toru Watanabe; on hearing the song “Norwegian Wood “ over the loudspeakers as his plane comes in to Hamburg has an attack of nostalgia and recalls his university days 20 years before. The novel continues as a narration of his life during the turbulent years of 1969 and 70 at university in Tokyo. Watanabe’s close friend Kizuki commits suicide and Watanabe is left to grieve with Kizuki’s girlfriend Naoko. Watanabe falls deeply in love with Naoko but later develops a friendship with a fellow student lively Midori Kobayashi. The novel’s central plot relates to Watanabe’s developing relationship with these two women. Various characters introduced as the story unfolds suggest alternative lifestyles and approaches to life. The political right (represented by a nationalistic flag raising ceremony) and left (represented by students who mouth slogans for the working class they don’t relate to) are both rejected. Watanabe’s roommate “ Storm trooper” represents solid middle class values but unexplainably disappears. Fellow student Nagasawa represents those who rule due to their natural ability and uncaring approach to others. Watanabe himself has a realist humanist existentialist although sensitive approach to life. Midori compares him to Humphrey Bogart in his detective movies. I think he also draws inspiration from Camus’ Outsider. The novel deals with a number of themes including young love, sexuality, loss, loneliness, nostalgia, death and grief. These are powerful themes as for many of us first love was the “deepest cut of all” and the death of a loved one can haunt us for a lifetime. The troubled melancholy dark deeply flawed depressed Naoko represents death, which is seen as part of the natural order of things. The bright, vivacious, earthy Midori represents life. Murakami uses moving and descriptive prose to interweave music of the times, literature and haunting descriptions of woods and forest. Much of the music and literature mentioned is western which reflects the interests of many post war Japanese. Tokyo, Japanese food and the forests around Kyoto provide a Japanese element.

The first line of the Beatles' great song, Norwegian Wood, describes the general context of Murakami's slice of human development novel: "I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me." The popular Japanese author systematically sets the stage for exploration of love relationships during the critical period of ages 17 to 20 in contemporary Tokyo. During this period, people feel compelled to make lasting commitments even though they are struggling with the transition from idealism to realism, from being children to becoming adults in a competitive culture. The story of four main characters who believe they have only a small window of freedom to decide on their life paths shows readers the dangers of confusing movement with action. Murakami focuses on the interaction of four main characters who discover that during the late adolescent years, if they avoid the hard psychological work of making the transition from childhood illusion to adult realism, there will be lifetime consequences. The narrator, Toru Watanabe, has a phlegmatic personality reminiscent of Thomas Mann's character, Hans Castorp, in The Magic Mountain. Like Hans, Toru is a rather naive young man from a middle class family who has learned to enjoy his youthful pleasures without making undue efforts to prepare for life's inevitable adult challenges. This avoidance of direction is reinforced by his relationship with a beautiful young girl, Naoko, who has maintained an idyllic relationship with her childhood boyfriend Kizuki even though the two realize they will not be able to live like children after their adolescent years, when they turn 20. Toru happily plays the friend of both, assuming a lackadaisical attitude and enjoying his own maturing pleasures though his self-understanding is delayed. Toru's roommate, Nagasawa is the epitome of this self-indulgent uncommitted lifestyle and Toru learns the art of using casual relationships with girls to satisfy sexual if not emotional needs. The ages 17 to 20 allow for exploration and preparation for adult roles, including some forgiveness for errors of judgment. But, at the end of this idyllic period, major choices loom. The characters must decide on maintaining ideals of carefree childhood at all costs (like Naoko and Kizuki), confronting the realization that they have a responsibility for accepting their own ultimate solitude in life and death (like Toru), or actively avoiding any real choices in life taking the path of least resistance to the best deal (like Nagasawa). Toru's favorite novel is The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald that features a man who refuses to give up his lost youthful illusions. But, Toru rereads The Magic Mountain at a time of transitional crisis that features Hans Castorp who decides to leave the dependent life on the mountain to take on the realistic and ultimately solitary role of a responsible adult on the flatlands. The readers will greatly enjoy discovering the decisions Toru makes during his transition of what Erik Erikson called the Intimacy versus Isolation psychosocial crisis. Is Toru most like Jay Gatsby or Hans Castorp?

While on a flight to Germany and while landing, the writer happens to listen to the song "Norwegian Wood" by Beatles.The wonderful song would have raised and must have elated the moods of all the other passengers on board listening to the pleasant, musical,soothing,lyrics ,but for the writer Murakami of "Norwegian Woods",as being narrated that the song always reminded him of his shuddering past,an unforgettable memory and a saddened truth which can't be erased from his memory.By the above we may conclude initially that it looked as if we are reading a sad story of someone whose thoughts are linked with the song.It also looked as if we are reading an autobiography of the one who has written the lines,until denied by the writer. himself. Murakami starts the book,"Norwegian Wood " with an exceptional beginning by picking up a popular Beatles song, titled,"Norwegian Wood",while putting life into the characters of the book simultaneously, filling with feelings and emotions, bringing out wonderful description of nature around,meadows,past memorable memories and the city of Tokyo, during the period 1968-70.The vivid description of dorms,universities,porn and students unrest etc are also brought out with such an impact that as a reader ,we have a feeling of witnessing the same in the present.As we continue reading, we learn that the lines above are thoughts of the protagonist, in the book'Thoru Watanabe' and the song "Norwegian Wood" by Beatles,was the favorite song of his beloved 'Naoko'.But then,to say the book as an ideal love story is also wrong,because on the one hand you read about the intense love,passion,emotions & feelings between Thoru Watanabe and Naoko(who is his best friend, Kizuki' s girl friend), but on the other hand we also witness the same intense relationship between him and,his other girlfriend, Midori and which is no less as close.Besides,we also come across about the physical relationship between Reiko and Watanabe(after the death of Naoko & who also happens to be a roommate & close friend of Naoko at the rehab sanctuary). We also read, the multiple flings of Watanabe with other girls, along with his friend Nagaswa while at dormitory and during their college days etc makes the feeling strong that the book is not an ideal love story though it's hard to keep the feeling aside at many a places, which is an incredible art by the writer to keep the intrest of the readers.With the number of deaths in the story by suicides (Kizuki,Hatsumi,Naoka),the frequent failure of love between(Toru Watanabe with Naoka and Midori, & Nagasawa with Hatsumi) ,an happily married life ending into divorce due to an unfortunate rumor (Reiko's ending up in a rehab) makes the story sad and tragic.With out doubt these things on the part of the reader - I.e. the subtle feeling of autobiographical part,the love story part, and the sad & tragic part intrigues us.The takeaways from the book are the strong and unflinching friendships that exist between different characters.,the mention of Beatles songs and books like Great Gatsby,which are skillfully clubbed with the story.Though it's not a suggestion to listen to the song of Beatles or read the book ,but definitely most of the readers may endup doing so if not done earlier,just out of curiosity. The charecter of Toru Watanabe for eg, as a caregiver to Midori's father while giving her a break touches us near to the heart.Then complimenting Midori for her cuteness with words like "So cute that the Mountains crumble and the Oceans dry up,"etc brings out the wit in him ,the replies that comes from Thoru Watanabe,and also being a favorite and being liked by every other charecter in the book goes down long with the reader.Similarly, the mention of Storm Trooper and his habits of being a perfectionist bring a lot of laughter.Above all,both the writing by Murakami and the translation by Jay Rubin are outstanding..

Konusu

An absolutely stunning book. I read this book in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. I'm normally a cynic when it comes to love stories, and I think this is the only love story to have ever moved me and evoke a whole lot of emotion inside of me that I'm not used to feeling. I loved that Murakami's writing is lyrical and effortless, and the book is heart-warming and strangely romantic, but heartbreaking at the same time. It made me smile/laugh one minute and cry the next. I couldn't reason 100% with the main character's choices at the end, but I think it's unfair to assume everyone would make the same decisions in life etc., and I absolutely loved that it didn't have a "happy ending". Is the story predictable? Sure, maybe, in some ways, but in life everyone is predictable. It's the journey that doesn't make it predictable, and Murakami made that journey for me an incredibly enjoyable one. It is very melancholic, though, and I did find one of the characters annoying, so if you're into books where everything is perfect and has a happy ending, and if you have to love all the characters in the book to love the book, Norwegian Wood isn't for you. It also isn't the book for you if you aren't into thinking about life/death or other depressing things, or if you're not into reflecting about people or the human condition. Also, based on reading the other reviews, it seems it makes a difference if you have an awareness of the Japanese culture, i.e. people who aren't acquainted with Japanese culture don't seem to like this novel as much as Murakami's other novels. I appreciated this novel a lot and everything in it made sense to me, but I am intimately acquainted with the culture. I suppose a lot of people don't, simply because they don't understand the way Japanese people work/think/talk, so they might find it unnatural and find it hard to understand the decisions the characters make or how they speak. But overall, an amazing book and one that I suspect will stay with me for a while.

Norwegian Wood is a classic with humor, loss, love, daily life for a young person. It is a remarkable book that draws the reader into the story with interesting characters that fill each other’s needs and expectations. I have always enjoyed Murakami, but never a story like that I wept at the end as if these characters were my friends. Well written, great descriptions of their life as students, their friendships, I do not want to have a spoiler so, I will refrain from speaking too much about the plot. It is not all happy go lucky as the reader experiences loss and growth but I think it is absolutely amazing and I highly recommend it.

This is a sensational novel about love, mental health, loneliness and life. It is gripping from the very first page and never relents. Overall, it's a story worth reading even though it is a tear jerker! I couldn't put it down nor want to finish it! I just wanted to continue reading it like a favourite TV series Warning, the book is very sad, has adult themes and can be a bit much at times I would reccomend it, especially this hardcover version.