Norwegian Wood

by Haruki Murakami

published

September 12th 2000 (first published 1990) by Vintage

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binding

Paperback, 304 pages

isbn

0375704027 (isbn13: 9780375704024)

description

In 1987, when Norwegian Wood was first published in Japan, it promptly sold more than 4 million copies and transformed Haruki Murakami into a p...more

[close] In 1987, when Norwegian Wood was first published in Japan, it promptly sold more than 4 million copies and transformed Haruki Murakami into a pop-culture icon. The horrified author fled his native land for Europe and the United States, returning only in 1995, by which time the celebrity spotlight had found some fresher targets. And now he's finally authorized a translation for the English-speaking audience, turning to the estimable Jay Rubin, who did a fine job with his big-canvas production The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Readers of Murakami's later work will discover an affecting if atypical novel, and while the author himself has denied the book's autobiographical import--"If I had simply written the literal truth of my own life, the novel would have been no more than fifteen pages long"--it's hard not to read as at least a partial portrait of the artist as a young man.

Norwegian Wood is a simple coming-of-age tale, primarily set in 1969-70, when the author was attending university. The political upheavals and student strikes of the period form the novel's backdrop. But the focus here is the young Watanabe's love affairs, and the pain and pleasure and attendant losses of growing up. The collapse of a romance (and this is one among many!) leaves him in a metaphysical shambles: <blockquote> I read Naoko's letter again and again, and each time I read it I would be filled with the same unbearable sadness I used to feel whenever Naoko stared into my eyes. I had no way to deal with it, no place I could take it to or hide it away. Like the wind passing over my body, it had neither shape nor weight, nor could I wrap myself in it. </blockquote> This account of a young man's sentimental education sometimes reads like a cross between Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Stephen Vizinczey's In Praise of Older Women. It is less complex and perhaps ultimately less satisfying than Murakami's other, more allegorical work. Still, Norwegian Wood captures the huge expectation of youth--and of this particular time in history--for the future and for the place of love in it. It is also a work saturated with sadness, an emotion that can sometimes cripple a novel but which here merely underscores its youthful poignancy. --Mark Thwaite [close]

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Ririenz rated it:

05/11/08

bookshelves: sastra-modern

Read in April, 2008

Haruki Murakami memang penulis yg langka. Imajinasinya sungguh liar, mencengangkan tp hasilnya baguussss...banget. Empat jempol buat Haruki Murakami.

Dalam Norwegian Wood , Murakami bercerita ttg lika-liku perjalan hidup seorang pemuda yg sedikit introvert bernama Watanabe.

Sejak pertama kali kemunculan Norwegian Wood aq sudah sangat tertarik dgn novel itu coz dari judulnya saja sudah membetot rasa ingin tahu_Q. Dan awak april lalu terjawab sudah sgala tanda tanya ttg Norwegian Wood dan ka...more

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Sylvia Georgina rated it:

08/23/08

Murakami blues

Escritores van y vienen, pero de pronto surge alguno que desata los demonios adormecidos de las letras e inmediatamente roba nuestra atención. Este es el caso de Haruki Murakami (Kyoto, 1949), un japonés que en menos de una década se ha posicionado en el “mainstream” literario y cuyos libros han conquistado los anaqueles de todo el mundo y creado una legión de seguidores incondicionales.

Aunque llegó a los lectores hispanoamericanos hasta el 2000, ya en los 80’s M...more

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Patricia rated it:

(review of isbn 8483103079)

08/06/08

Murakami es adictivo. Después de leerlo, uno queda satisfecho. Historias sencillas, tramas simples, elementos recurrentes: el protagonista es un escritor o un lector asiduo, la novela está impregnada de música de fondo, en este caso, al leer la novela que recomiend, parece que se oye precisamente “norwegian woods” de los Beatles. Murakami es obsesivo con sus temas: la soledad, el vacío que inunda a los habitantes de las grandes ciudades, el amor, el sexo y la muerte.

Toru Watanabe, p...more Murakami es adictivo. Después de leerlo, uno queda satisfecho. Historias sencillas, tramas simples, elementos recurrentes: el protagonista es un escritor o un lector asiduo, la novela está impregnada de música de fondo, en este caso, al leer la novela que recomiend, parece que se oye precisamente “norwegian woods” de los Beatles. Murakami es obsesivo con sus temas: la soledad, el vacío que inunda a los habitantes de las grandes ciudades, el amor, el sexo y la muerte.

Toru Watanabe, protagonista y narrador de esta novela, recuerda sus años de adolescencia al escuchar la mencionada melodía del cuarteto inglés. Nos encontramos en Tokio, en los años sesenta. Toru es un adolescente indiferente. En el instituto, conoce a toda una serie de personajes como “tropa de asalto”, un fanático de la limpieza y Nagasawa, el chico popular al que todos quieren acercarse y que se hace amigo de Toru al compartir su afición por “el gran gatsby” y quien además lo inicia en el ligue de adolescentes con quienes terminan teniendo sexo. Pero la medular de la novela, es la relación que sostiene Toru con dos mujeres. La primera es Naoko a quien recuerda con dulzura y de quien estuvo enamorado de manera culpable, pues Naoko era novia de Kizuki, su mejor amigo y quien se suicidio a los 17 años. La muerte del adolescente los marca para siempre, pero también los une, aunque el desenlace sea fatal.

La otra mujer es Midori, compañera del Instituo de Toru, quien está interesadísima en saberlo todo sobre el sexo, a pesar de que ha pasado mucho tiempo en hospitales cuidando a sus padres enfermos.

Murakami dibuja muy bien a sus personajes secundarios, que hasta pareciera que uno los conoce de toda la vida. Como pocos autores, el narrador y protagonista habla en primera persona y en pasado; es por eso que su lectura es fácil y amena.

En esta historia no hay intrigas ni grandes misterios que resolver. No hay sino las experiencias de un adolescente solitario. Toru, personaje, construido magistralmente por el autor, habla con frases cortas, es un joven enigmático que vive día a día y eso lo hace feliz.

“Tokio Blues”, repito, no es una historia complicada, únicamente narra el vacío y la monotonía en la vida de un joven japonés en los años sesenta, al que no le interesa ser exitoso, ni sabe porque estudia, ni siquiera le interesa la revolución en una época en que casi todos los jóvenes estaban politizados. Parece que lo único que lo hace feliz es leer, es especial a Faulkner, Conrad, Fitzgerald, Capote, Chandler y Updike.

La historia va desde que Toru tiene 17 años y hasta los 21. El protagonista va narrando sus días y sus confusiones respecto a quien debe amar, describiendo como van pasando las estaciones y lo rutinario de su vida.

Llega 1970 y el protagonista escribe como pone fin a su adolescencia y por primera vez siente que no debe permanecer por siempre de 17 años. Pues después de enfrentarse a la muerte, cara a cara, se da cuenta que ésta “no se opone a la vida, la muerte está incluida en nuestra vida”. Este enfrentamiento, lo lleva a hacer un viaje, tan sólo con una mochila a cuestas, sobreviviendo a base de whisky y pan y sin recordar el itinerario. Esta aventura lo hace encontrarse consigo mismo y con la verdad que buscaba desde hace tiempo, lo que le hace decirse a sí mismo que “el conocimiento de la verdad no alivia la tristeza que sentimos al perder a un ser querido. Ni la verdad, ni la sinceridad, ni la fuerza, ni el cariño son capaces de curar esa tristeza. Lo único que puede hacerse en atravesar ese dolor esperando aprender algo de él, aunque todo lo que uno haya aprendido no le sirva para nada la próxima vez que la tristeza lo visite de improviso”.

La muerte lo persigue y es parte de su escencia, sin embargo, al final del camino de la adolescencia, cuando por fin se despoja de ese vacío que lo habita, el jóven Toru Watanabe experimenta el deseo de empezar una nueva vida.
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Kate rated it:

(review of isbn 0099448823)

09/14/07

bookshelves: alltimefavourites, reviewed

Book Review: Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood (Vintage, London, 2000)

I have never been good at reading translations. It's always in the back of my mind that what I'm reading is not the piece in its original forms: it is not how the author originally wished it to be presented. I don't know, therefore, whether it is to Murakami or Norwegian Wood's translator Jay Rubin who I should give the credit for keeping me thoroughly engaged with this one.

I immediately connected to Toru, the narrator...more Book Review: Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood (Vintage, London, 2000)

I have never been good at reading translations. It's always in the back of my mind that what I'm reading is not the piece in its original forms: it is not how the author originally wished it to be presented. I don't know, therefore, whether it is to Murakami or Norwegian Wood's translator Jay Rubin who I should give the credit for keeping me thoroughly engaged with this one.

I immediately connected to Toru, the narrator and protagonist, because he was a university student, a reader, who was 19 and turning 20. Even though the character is in 1960s Japan, so much of the mundane aspects of his every day life were things that I could connect to.

I found the exploration of 'normal' and 'not-normal' incredibly intriguing. Whilst Naoko and Reiko spend most of the novel in a sort of hospital, I never got the impression that they were any more strange than Toru (a self confessed loner), Midori (who has a strange fascination with pornography, and can't cry at her father's funeral), Nagasawa (who doesn't seem to have any real emotions or attachments) or Hatsumi (Nagasawa's long-suffering girlfriend, who comes off as very repressed). Where the difference lies, I think, is that Naoko and Reiko feel unhealthy through their lack of normality, and worry that the way they act, the way they think, hurts others as well as themselves.

Suicide is an issue that runs throughout the novel, and with it (of course) does death. The messages coming through about these things were interesting. It seemed to me that Toru was unsure exactly what death meant to him, except for that 'Death exists, not as the opposite to, but as a part of life.' Looking back at the novel as a whole, I think death is handled in the same sort of way as in the Harry Potter series. (Odd comparison, I know) It has that same questioning nature, and the same raw honesty. It's something I have come to admire in authors when I feel this in their work.

The novel is, more than anything, a coming of age novel about a love triangle. The two relationships work so well that I think as a reader you begin to feel a lot like Toru does: you want him to be with Naoko when she is in the scene, and you want him to be with Midori when she appears. It's not a traditional love triangle I suppose in that the girls do not compete for his heart. They both must just be themselves and see where they end up. It's not a story of epic love and passion, but it's subtle, and seems more real.

The language in which Toru's world and feelings are described is simply gorgeous. I suppose I should credit both Murakami and Rubin here. I guess it's a collaborative effort, in many ways. So many simple sentences just reached out and grabbed me, either for their truth, beauty, wit or oddness.

Overall, this is a fantastic novel that I would recommend to everyone who has experienced (or is still doing so) the rollercoaster ride that is growing up and living without anyone to hold your hand in the best way that you know how.

(Not recommended at all for younger readers, some of the sex scenes and the language is quite graphic, as well as some themes being upsetting. I don't know if I could have read this when I was 16/17 for example, and really understood it.)...less

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Melody rated it:

(review of isbn )

04/02/08

bookshelves: japanese

Read in April, 2008

recommended to Melody by: Koko

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

There is so much to think about with this book. Of course there’s the Beatles’ song, Norwegian Wood, which seems to be about a guy who meets a girl and bides his time with her, thinking they are going to go to bed together, but then she tells him, nope – I’ve got to work in the morning. Then in the morning, there he is with his “wood” and the girl is gone – so he has to start his own fire (masturbate?)”
Anyway that’s my interpretation of the song which does match this s...more There is so much to think about with this book. Of course there’s the Beatles’ song, Norwegian Wood, which seems to be about a guy who meets a girl and bides his time with her, thinking they are going to go to bed together, but then she tells him, nope – I’ve got to work in the morning. Then in the morning, there he is with his “wood” and the girl is gone – so he has to start his own fire (masturbate?)”
Anyway that’s my interpretation of the song which does match this story superficially. But there is much more going on. We’ve got the strange world of Tokyo youth – the explicit discussion of sex – yet they refer to sex as “sleeping together” or “doing it” and refer to their penis and vagina as “down there” – yet they’ll go to porno shows together and discuss tying each other up and analyzing the amount of semen produced or how wet they’re getting. All this AFTER they’ve gotten their bottle of sake from the corner vending machine and while smoking their 17th Marlboro cigarette and drinking their 5th Tom Collins while planning on checking into a “Love Hotel”. “It’s true!” And then – and here is the reason for the spoiler alert – there are 4 suicides and 1 probably additional suicide (Storm Trooper)! This is all in Toru’s small circle of friends. And the girls will turn on you in an instant if you don’t notice that they have changed their hair style.

A very interesting read after reading “Searching for Alaska” which was not a very well written book, had poorly developed characters, a stalled plot – but was about a very similar situation: Teenagers trying to deal with the death – or the suicide - of a very close friend of theirs while trying to figure out what they want in life and how to go about getting it and, oh by the way, do you think we did anything to cause Alaska to die? Norwegian Wood also deals with this – how Toru and Naoko deal with the death of their best friend, Kizuki and their attraction for one another. They don’t ever seem to think they played a part in his death, but rather spend their time trying to decide if they are going to follow him into death or if they are going to learn how to live.

Murakami writes about the Ami Hostel in almost the style of magical realism. It seems to be a mental hospital, but like Hotel California, you can check in, but you can never leave. It’s hard, if not impossible to tell the doctors from the patients and there is no treatment that takes place. And Reiko is like a little imperfect guardian angel. Her story is so sad and strange. But she tries to protect both Watanabe and Naoko.

And where are these kids’ parents? We get tiny, almost Charlie Brown kind of glimpses of them along the way. I know most of this is taking place after they are in college, but they are all going through some pretty intense stuff and you think they might just pop up now and again (we do hear of Naoko’s mother once, towards the end). Maybe they’re all in Uruguay. And who’s paying for all this stuff?

I know, it probably sounds like I didn’t like it, but I loved it. There is so much to think about. But I do kind of feel like Watanabe at the end:

“Where was I now? I had no idea. No idea at all. Where was this place? All that flashed into my eyes were the countless shapes of people walking by to nowhere.”
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Matt rated it:

(review of isbn 1860468187)

04/24/08

Read in April, 2008

My oh my....I think I would give this book ten stars if I had the chance. A review is forthcoming, once it isn't 4:49 in the morning and all of my thoughts are properly collected....

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Can you believe I didn't listen to The Beatles once over the two weeks that it took me to read this? I find it strange, as I tend to suffer from Beatlemania and listen to them frequently. But no, no Beatles, not a single time. As interesting as that may or may not be, it isn't t...more My oh my....I think I would give this book ten stars if I had the chance. A review is forthcoming, once it isn't 4:49 in the morning and all of my thoughts are properly collected....

***************************

Can you believe I didn't listen to The Beatles once over the two weeks that it took me to read this? I find it strange, as I tend to suffer from Beatlemania and listen to them frequently. But no, no Beatles, not a single time. As interesting as that may or may not be, it isn't the best way to start this review. I find myself wondering if Toru Watanabe is the one literary character I have been able to relate to most. No, no...that isn't a good start either.

Very early on in this book, I knew I would love it. This is my third Murakami, and he hadn't let me down before. I find his writing in general to be visceral, nostalgic, and tinted with shadows of melancholy. This book, however, in contrast to The Elephant Vanishes and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, grabbed me by the heart and didn't let go until its final words passed before my eyes. Is it because he eschews the supernatural this time around, or doesn't throw his usual left hooks plotwise? Not really.

Normally I can understand why, or at least rationalize a review or rating, but I find the right words are elusive tonight. I think back through particular scenes in the book and can pinpoint certain moods and feelings. I can say that so-and-so a scene was intense enough to give even me an erection; I can say I discovered heartache and touched sorrow here, relived loss there, experienced beauty, felt pain, the joy of togetherness. You'd figure if you covered this semi-representative range of moods and emotions, mixed them together like an omelet and said voila! you would have this book. And I suppose in a way that's true...

But it's also not true. This book isn't some magic potion, and it isn't an omelet. At it's heart, it's a love story, about love that is simultaneously there, tangible and real, but also elusive and forever slipping away. As John Lennon once wrote, "I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me." But Matt, you're thinking, there are millions of love stories out there. What makes this one so special? I don't know. It's complex, sure. Yet that's not it. It's beautifully written, sure. Yet that's not it. It has colorful characters, fantastic dialogue, raging eroticism, thoughts and ideas I can relate to, yet they aren't it either. I can't pinpoint it. But I love it anyway.

There's a quote that I think sort of relates in a roundabout way. "Letters are just pieces of paper," I said. "Burn them, and what stays in your heart will stay; keep them, and what vanishes will vanish." This reading is still very fresh in my mind, too fresh perhaps, but I get the feeling it will stick with me for a long time to come. I look forward to seeing again, further down the road.

And, for the record, the music I found most apt to this reading experience was the Icelandic band, Sigur Rós. Dig it, kids.

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Debra rated it:

07/05/08

bookshelves: fiction, on-memory

Read in June, 2008

When 37 year-old Toru Watanabe hears a “sweet orchestral cover version” of Norwegian Wood on a 747 going to Germany, he finds himself swept into memories of 1969, the year that he turned twenty. At the center of his memories is Naoko with whom he shared after a complicated romance after Kizuki, his best friend and her boyfriend, committed suicide. Toru remained devoted to Naoko even after her emotional condition deteriorated and she checked herself into the Ami Hostel, a remote, m...more When 37 year-old Toru Watanabe hears a “sweet orchestral cover version” of Norwegian Wood on a 747 going to Germany, he finds himself swept into memories of 1969, the year that he turned twenty. At the center of his memories is Naoko with whom he shared after a complicated romance after Kizuki, his best friend and her boyfriend, committed suicide. Toru remained devoted to Naoko even after her emotional condition deteriorated and she checked herself into the Ami Hostel, a remote, mountain sanitarium for people suffering from mental illness. As the song heard on the airplane draws out Toru’s memories, he pictures a meadow in which he and Naoko once walked, but they themselves are no longer in the scene. “As clear as the scene may be,” Toru says, “no one is in it…Naoko is not there and neither am I. Where could we have disappeared to?…Everything that seemed so important…Naoko and the self I was then and the world I had then, where could they have gone?” At that moment Toru determines to write a book in order to retrieve both himself and the girl he once walked with in that field.

In a lesser writer’s hands, the autobiographical voice often goes awry, but it is a testament to Haruki Murakami’s gifts that in Norwegian Wood, he retrieves what might have been a simple, nostalgic coming of age story and creates a novel of great emotional power and transcendence. Murakami's work is so seamless, and affords the reader such pleasure in sinking into it, that it is often hard to pinpoint why the sum total is so good. Toru’s narrative voice (in what seems to be an open homage to Nick Caraway in The Great Gatsby) draws the reader into a world that is complete. Even the secondary characters--from relatively minor ones like his college roommate Storm Trooper and his promiscuous friend Nagasawa to the more important characters of Midori, a free-spirited girl he meets in his Drama class, and the wonderful Reiko, an older woman who is Naoko’s friend at Ami Hostel--are perfectly calibrated within the whole.

Murakami is often lauded as a master of images but I believe that in the strength of this particular novel (and I might add, the English translation by Jay Rubin) comes from a mastery of tone. Although Murakami resembles many of our contemporary novelists in that he casts out many musical and literary references, he is unlike many others in that he never seems frantic. Murakami masterfully weaves music and quietness into a soundtrack for love and loss as he conducts all the elements of this novel like the notes and breaths of a musical score. Although the theme of the book hinges on the power of music to conjure, evoke memories, and heal, there is nest of silence at the heart of this novel, particularly in the scenes in which Toru visits Naoki and Reiko at the beautiful Ami Hostel, a place that casts a spell of quietness and intimacy over the world. Absences and presences silence and sound: the past will always be a field both empty and full. But is through Haruki Murakami’s great quietness that Toru—and by extension we, the readers—can still hear Reiko’s guitar play Norwegian Wood in a way that pierces the heart. ****1/2
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TheDane rated it:

07/29/08

Read in July, 2008

Having read Kafka on the Shore, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, After the Quake, and Sputnik Sweetheart, I decided it was high time I read the novel that really put Haruki Murakami on the Map of Supe...more Having read Kafka on the Shore, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, After the Quake, and Sputnik Sweetheart, I decided it was high time I read the novel that really put Haruki Murakami on the Map of Superstardom. Norwegian Wood, by all accounts, was the work that made his later triumphs possible. Still, I approached the work guardedly, recognizing that popularity and quality rarely go with hands clasped in loving security.

In short, my fears were deftly allayed.

Norwegian Wood, while boasting none of that surreality that drew me so strongly to Murakami's later works, is still on all counts an excellent novel. It foreshadows the art that he would later hone in more incredible works but is not overwhelmed by its place as Prototype and stands stubbornly under its own worthy powers. The book is emotionally satisfying, wryly humourous, and carries enough of the psychological burden of true romance that I couldn't help but enjoy the journey.

As far as the story is concerned, Murakami pits a young, collegiate protagonist (Toru Watanabe) against a world made crazy by ill-founded idealism and the fascism that idealism nurtures. The world around him feeds on dreams and the need for rebellion—not worthy rebellion but only that typical rebellion that the young feel is necessary to young lives. Even in the midst of his cynicism toward the mindless abandon of his classmates, Watanabe finds himself abandoned to his desperate love for Naoko, the psychologically wounded girlfriend of his now-deceased best friend from high school. Even as he labours to support Naoko through her lengthy convalescence, writing her letters and occasionally visiting her remote community, Watanabe takes the edge off his pining by participating in two oddly similar friendships, both with fellow students of his particular university. These work to show him both who he wants to be and who he does not want to be.

I'm not certain if Norwegian Wood should be classified as romantic fiction, bildungsroman, or as something else. Certainly their are elements of the two well-mined genres, but I can't help feeling that the novel is perhaps something more worthwhile than either of the two classifications. In any case, I liked it well enough and it's normal enough to appeal to even those who aren't ready for Murakami's more curious work.

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Aparna rated it:

08/30/08

Read in August, 2008

Haruki Murakami was one of the most talked about authors in my friends reading circle for almost three weeks. This was about two months ago. I was almost restless to read a title, any title by him.

It was sheer chance that I picked this one up, actually I let the bookstore guy decide what Murakami title I would read first.

Somehow, I am disappointed. I loved the complete justice which Jay Rubin gave the book, since translations are more or less not very powerful in terms of being fair to t...more Haruki Murakami was one of the most talked about authors in my friends reading circle for almost three weeks. This was about two months ago. I was almost restless to read a title, any title by him.

It was sheer chance that I picked this one up, actually I let the bookstore guy decide what Murakami title I would read first.

Somehow, I am disappointed. I loved the complete justice which Jay Rubin gave the book, since translations are more or less not very powerful in terms of being fair to the writing style, the story, characterization and effect, all at the same time.

With that done, the story itself totally appalled me. Yes, it was one of the more accurate descriptions I had read about the 60's era, and a pretty nice one at that, but something kept me from enjoying the book. To me, Murakami has tried too hard to make the whole thing "real". Having morbid characters, dark mentalities, and a whole lot of sadness, misfortune and characters twisted in their heads is not the only criteria for making a book seem real.
Every character in the book either has a deep-rooted psychological issues( their root causes being deaths - suicides, actually, and exposure to high degrees of twisted promiscuity). The book mentions 4 suicides, at least 4 extremely sexual reckless characters (Freud would have had a field day). Almost 8 in ten actions that the main character, Toru, indulges in are illogical, dark and unreasonable even to him. Somehow the author seems to think it gives the book a realistic edge. To me, it seems like an R rated extremely dark and depressing impression of a Grimm's Brothers fairy tale. Everything seems unreal. The characters, the setting, the complete lack of positive, "normal" human emotions.

If that was not enough, the constant flits to the present make it seem like there is supposed to be some make-believe time warp that should leave you confused, but it gets more irritating, than anything else, as you know the whole story was meant to be in the past.

The stars would be for the profound imagry the words convey. And I also loved the use of blatant color in prose. I could literally see the bright yellow of the raincapes of the people in the institution, the bright white and red of the Rising Sun, and the green peas and white contrasting rice of the tempura described. Its very rare, especially in an almost 400 page book, that a simple mention of a color has the effect of making something seem so alive and vivid.

All in all, not a disappointing read, but definitely a very uncalled for conceptualization of reality....less

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Dan rated it:

08/19/08

Read in January, 2006

I used to go to the beatles themed cafe, in the covered arcade in Hiroshima after work and read books and smoke cigarettes. (a scene which, as it turns out, was very murakami-esque.) I remember on the evening i finished this book there, norwegian wood came on, and it made me smile at how goofy his characters are. (of course, i didn't smile too long. The book is pretty sombre.) What did Naoko say, the song reminded her of a dark, mystic wood? (it's about lennon having an affair with his wife, an...more I used to go to the beatles themed cafe, in the covered arcade in Hiroshima after work and read books and smoke cigarettes. (a scene which, as it turns out, was very murakami-esque.) I remember on the evening i finished this book there, norwegian wood came on, and it made me smile at how goofy his characters are. (of course, i didn't smile too long. The book is pretty sombre.) What did Naoko say, the song reminded her of a dark, mystic wood? (it's about lennon having an affair with his wife, and there was cheesy norwegian wood paneling in the girl's apartment.) Either way it's not a spooky song, but now it seems to make so much sense when I hear it. You can never really count on the quirkiness of murakami's characters; here's what this book made me realize about his writing.

Well I read this book right after Kafka, which was my first Murakami book. (All I knew was this one was more famous, and what was written about it on the book jacket) So I was sort of surprised at the type of book it was. No metaphysical puzzles, no unexplained supernatural happenings. And I loved that stuff! But it still took me away, and made me realize that what I love about his writing isn't the magic mysteries, but the way he handles his characters. His characters have a real either frank or shy way of conversing that is so interesting for me to read-- do you know what I mean? I'm not sure if it's even realistic, but it seems so normal that it romantices normal life.
Lots of books have characters that you can sympathize with, that are "deep", but they never make it seems so cool and interesting to just be a normal person, you know?

The sad themes of the book, (the death, loneliness, the love that's not novel style "real love" as much as just needing to be with someone) are made so human that it's beautiful rather than depressing to read. There is a sort of zen philosophy hiding under the way these themes are handled I feel -- they're dealt with in sort of sombre and stoic way that makes them so much more real than when authors try to go for the tear-jerking, dagger in the heart melodrama. They're mixed with things that are boring, the narrator's thoughts that stray, and lots of funny scenes. It's all just so normal that it IS romantic. Awesome book, kickass author.
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Rhiannon rated it:

07/10/07

bookshelves: fiction

Read in July, 2007

Norwegian Wood is about a young man starting college in Tokyo in the late '60s. He falls in love with Naoko, the former girlfriend of his best friend, who had committed suicide at 17 (the friend, not Naoko). While Naoko is dealing with her extensive personal problems, he forms a friendship with a free-thinking girl named Midori.

I've been trying to figure out what I wanted to say about this book for a while now. It's my second Murakami book (the first being Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) and I ha...more Norwegian Wood is about a young man starting college in Tokyo in the late '60s. He falls in love with Naoko, the former girlfriend of his best friend, who had committed suicide at 17 (the friend, not Naoko). While Naoko is dealing with her extensive personal problems, he forms a friendship with a free-thinking girl named Midori.

I've been trying to figure out what I wanted to say about this book for a while now. It's my second Murakami book (the first being Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) and I had very similar reactions to both - I really enjoyed them, but have a hard time saying why.

Characters are normally what make or break a book for me, so I really shouldn't have liked this. Toru, the main character, is pretty much a non-entity to me - I feel like I know absolutely nothing about him. He's very consciously set up as a Nick Carroway (Great Gatsby) figure, and I can't stand Nick. (The boy tells me he's also a Holden Caulfield figure, and that's also explicit in the text, but I've never read Catcher in the Rye.) And at least I just don't care about Toru - with the exception of Midori, I pretty much can't stand everyone else. Naoko is so manipulative and so determined to drag everyone around her down with her, and it kills me that this never dawns on those around her.

There were also a lot of things I don't really know that I can address fully, because I don't have the cultural context. These are issues surrounding gender, sexuality, perceptions of mental illness and difference, that I can't fully engage with due to not being Japanese or having knowledge or experience regarding Japan in the 60's.

However, as I said, I did like this book a lot. Midori is funny and sweet and really every scene that had her in it was golden. The pacing was perfect - just the right amount of odd scenes interspersed with great explicative conversations. A little too much of Toru sitting around contemplating how he does the same thing all the time (which is primarily sitting around contemplating how he does the same thing all the time), but it rang true with the rest of the book's driving themes.
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Fiona rated it:

06/01/08

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I enjoyed this book for the most part. It did capture something about university life - having pletny of time on your hands, often spent alone. I liked Watanabe's (and all characters for that matter) view on the world, and of life. Watanabe seemed so passive throughout the whole novel, as so much was happening around him - Naoko's worsening sickness, Midori and her weird and assertive ways...though his passivity(sp?) seemed very fitting. He is just another life living in a busy, complicated ...more I enjoyed this book for the most part. It did capture something about university life - having pletny of time on your hands, often spent alone. I liked Watanabe's (and all characters for that matter) view on the world, and of life. Watanabe seemed so passive throughout the whole novel, as so much was happening around him - Naoko's worsening sickness, Midori and her weird and assertive ways...though his passivity(sp?) seemed very fitting. He is just another life living in a busy, complicated world.

This book was very easy to read - thanks either to Murakami's writing, or the translation. The storyline itself did not interest me too much, but the details Murakami scattered throughout the book is what left a lasting impression. Tokyo is a big city, and people do not have time for one-another, yet must live as harmoniously as they can. This is perhaps why Watanabe is so passive, even though he feels such stong emotions. Also the small 'morals' scattered throughout the book were effective. 'Death is a part of life,' and all the advice Reiko gives Watanabe as the novel progresses.

Although she really got up-my-goat much of the time, my favourite character was Midori. Perhaps because she could be so 'kawaii' at times, yet still have so much substance to her. I very much enjoyed her 'stick-it-to-the-lefties' talk with Watanabe, yet still maintain her own liberal way of thinking.

Too often in this book did I go 'if only i could live in the pages of this novel, and work in a record store in Shinjuku... or go out drinking in the early afternoon with strange porn-obsessed uni friends... or have talks with trendy-uni-types about novels and classical music...' but then I'd catch myself, and remember that Watanabe's life itself is not that interesting - he has just been swept up in the sorrow of death, and is trying to deal. I myself would not want to have gone through what Watanabe went through.

Although this book was so-so for me, I definitely want to read more of Murakami's work. This is a good introduction, and perhaps I am now ready to face his 'not so mainstream' novels.
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Astrid rated it:

08/21/07

bookshelves: my-book-shelf

Read in October, 2006

Clenched Soul

We have lost even this twilight.
No one saw us this evening hand in hand
while the blue night dropped on the world.

I have seen from my window
the fiesta of sunset in the distant mountain tops.

Sometimes a piece of sun
burned like a coin in my hand.

I remembered you with my soul clenched
in that sadness of mine that you know.

Where were you then?
Who else was there?
Saying what?
Why will the whole of love come on me suddenly
when I am sad and feel you are fa...more

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cindy rated it:

03/30/07

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in June, 2000

recommends it for: everyone

Love, loneliness, the constant desire to connect. It's a gentle, beautiful, haunting novella.

Midori: "So I made up my mind I was going to find someone who would love me unconditionally three hundred and sixty-five days a year."

Watanabe: "Wow, and did your search pay off?"

M: "That's the hard part. I guess I've been waiting so long I"m looking for perfection. That makes it tough."

W: "Waiting for the perfect love?"

M: "No, even...more

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Penelope added it

09/24/08

Read in September, 2008

WARNING: wine enhanced review follows below
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it seems like the books i grab off the library shelves as i run through to the children's section with my toddler wriggling out of my arm while simultaneously yelling BOOKS at the top of his well-formed lungs seem to be like 6 degrees of separation -- all without any planning on my part. [side note, even if i had the time to leisurely stroll in the library or book store, as a rule i don't read the si...more

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