Norwegian Wood

by Haruki Murakami

book data

10,291 ratings, 3.96 average rating, 1,031 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		31%
4		39%
3		22%
2		4%
1		1%

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published

September 12th 2000 (first published 1987) by Vintage

binding

Paperback, 304 pages

characters

Toru, Naoko

setting

Japan

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 pop-cult...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:

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.

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

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03/10/09

Michelle rated it:

(review of isbn 0099448823)

Read in March, 2009

Was this book a little ego-centric and self-serving? Yes. Did that prevent this book from being another example of Murakami's brilliance? No.

Come on, sex so great that two of the women decided never to have sex again because it just couldn't ever compare? Please! Sorry boys, I don't care what your sexual prowess in the bedroom is but no woman would ever come to the conclusion. Ever.

With that being said the rest of the book was filled with an insightful and poignant story...more

Like this review? yes (15 people liked it)

11 comments

11/07/08

Amang Suramang rated it:

(review of other edition)

bookshelves: indonesian, world-literature

Read in April, 2009

Setelah perkenalan yang mulus lewat karya pertama Haruki Murakami yang berjudul Dengarlah Nyanyian Angin, aku semakin mantap untuk menjajal novel kelimanya yang beken: Norwegian Wood. Desas-desus buku ini bikin mual karena vulgar sudah lebih dulu beredar di beberapa komentar teman-teman Goodreads, tapi berpegang pada buku pertamanya yang sebetulnya juga sudah vulgar, aku pikir isi novel yang ini pun pasti tidak terlalu jauh melenceng. Harus dipahami betul-betul, Haruki Murakami bukan penulis kac...more

Like this review? yes (13 people liked it)

21 comments

08/04/07

Kate McLaughlin rated it:

(review of isbn 0099448823)

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 To...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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11/16/07

Katherine rated it:

This is supposed to be Murakami's "normal" novel, the one you can give your friends who aren't ready to deal with house-husbands facing their subconscious at the bottom of a well or with doppelgangers trapped in ferris wheels.

The story begins with Toru and Naoko, a pair of painfully shy students whose relationship is always overshadowed by the suicide of their mutual friend many years ago. While Naoko retreats further into herself and her unhappiness, Toru slowly and uncons...more

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08/18/07

Montambo rated it:

bookshelves: death, so-this-is-love

Read in April, 2008

I think I'm just not meant for Murakami. I wanted to love him because the people who love him REALLY do. They're rapturous. They get cantakerous if you tell them you've never read him. They're like sushi lovers.

Well, I tried to love sushi, too. I was jealous of the sushi lovers. They have something special going on with sushi and there I am with my edamame and miso soup. But they're like, "Try this one! You'll love this one!" I try it. I tryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, people...more

Like this review? yes (7 people liked it)

24 comments

08/21/07

Astrid Reza rated it:

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 ...more

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04/16/07

Matt rated it:

(review of isbn 1860468187)

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....

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

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 no...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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02/11/09

Ben rated it:

(review of other edition)

bookshelves: audio, good-fiction, read-in-2009

Read in February, 2009

There are three main themes: The unpredictable nature of growing up, the sadness of death, and love. Essentially it's a love story, and it felt like your typical one, until about halfway through. Then I slowly realized that it had become something so much deeper than that; something so much more.

Part of its attraction had to do with the feeling that I'm similar to--and that I strongly understand--the protagonist. Plus I've had my own complicated set of love triangles recently, s...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

3 comments

07/29/08

Seth Hahne rated it:

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 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 b...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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07/11/07

Yulia rated it:

bookshelves: by-and-of-japan, read-to-me-by-frank

Read in January, 2005

How this book became one of Murakami's most famous and popular baffles me. In fact, when asked about it in an interview, Murakami himself said that he was puzzled by its popularity and that it really isn't what he wants to be known for.

What can I say? There's too little of the characters that do spark my interest and much too much of the depressive girlfriend and her kooky friend at the mental institution. Also, the scenes which were supposed to be funny about his college roomma...more

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03/22/07

Ed rated it:

(review of isbn 1860468187)

recommends it for: introverts, suicidals, hopelessly serious romantics

Murakami has three kinds of writing: surrealist short-fiction, short romance novels, and epic labyrinthian meditations. Personally, the romance is my least favorite of his styles. Not that I dislike them, but they tend to wear thin on me after a few. That said, once I finally got around to Norwegian Wood, one of the first and most infamous of Murakami romances, I can see why the formula became a temptation. Definately my favorite of Murakami's short love stories, forget the whole "Catcher i...more

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09/15/07

Martine rated it:

(review of isbn 0099448823)

bookshelves: asian, favourites, modern-fiction

Read in August, 2007

Norwegian Wood is a beautifully evocative account of Japanese student life in the late 1960s. It's a bit sentimental by Murakami's standards, but boy, is it engaging. At turns humorous, fascinating, melancholy and poignant, this story about an unusual student who is torn between two rather unusual women is probably the best book I've read this year. I just love the characters Murakami comes up with. Even the minor characters are special and endearing.

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

1 comment

09/04/08

erry rated it:

(review of other edition)

Read in October, 2008

"Kematian bukanlah akhir dari kehidupan, tetapi merupakan bagian darinya"

- Haruki Murakami dalam Norwegian Wood -

Norwegian Wood, adalah sebuah kisah tentang generasi muda Jepang di era tahun enam puluhan. Ketika negeri sakura ini mulai menggeliat bangkit pasca keruntuhan mereka di PD II.
Ini adalah era kebangkitan dan kebebasan. Musik the Beattles, rock, dansa dansi, alcohol, sex bebas, kaum hippies dan lainnya.

Keanehan dunia kematian ternyata ...more

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41 comments

09/01/08

Dini rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in April, 2009

recommended to Dini by: Cici

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

A coming-of-age tale of young college student Toru Watanabe in 1960s Japan, as he grapples with love, sex, loneliness and death, with Beatles tunes playing in the background. Toru and Naoko knew each other through Kizuki, who dated Naoko in high school. Kizuki kills himself, causing Naoko to descend into depression. Only then do she and Toru get close, because of their shared experience of dealing with Kizuki's troubling death. On the other hand, Toru meets a lively young woman in his college, M...more

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9 comments

06/01/08

Fiona McCandless rated it:

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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04/14/08

Marie sweeney rated it:

Read in July, 2008

recommends it for: ego tripping, fantasy dwelling men

UGH!!!
This book bugged the hell out of me for a few reasons:
#1. There is a somewhat extended passage devoted to a lesbian encounter that wouldn't be so terrible in and of itself, as sex in general is a major topic BUT the novel as a whole leaned towards describing the physiological experience the woman were having and would brush over the mens again and again. There would be like 5 paragraphs on the woman and then 1 sentence were it would say something along the lines of, "she t...more

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03/30/07

cindy rated it:

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 ...more

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01/22/08

sisterimapoet rated it:

(review of isbn 0099448823)

bookshelves: fiction-2008

Read in March, 2008

It's been about ten years since I read any Murakami. When I read it then it was as part of a 'get to know some Japanese literature' thing I was trying. My Japanese friend told me that her friends all liked Murakami, but that her father disapproved. He recommended Mishima.

I think when I read Murakami then I thought he was ok, but possibly trying too hard to write a Western worshipping Japanese novel.

Apparently 'Norwegain Wood' is the most widely read Murakami. But I th...more

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10/17/07

Geoff rated it:

Read in January, 2006

recommends it for: those pining for an ever-elusive connection.

"Norwegian Wood" departs from Murakami's more surreal magical realism, and is often derided as "just a love story"; it is anything but. On the surface this is the story of a loner exploring two kinds of intimacies, one tragic and distant, the other exciting but comparitively mundane. "Norwegian Wood" exemplifies Murakami's often-overlooked gift for filling his tales with layer upon layer of reality, often weaving the everyday and the impossible, the bitter with the ...more

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02/22/09

Michael rated it:

(review of isbn 9871210728)

Read in February, 2009

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

No se si es mas triste que extrano sentir que uno puede vivir leyendo una novela (porque, en realidad, como puede uno decir que vive sin salir de su cuarto), pero eso me paso con Tokio Blues: senti que después de leer el libro, habia vivido un poco mas. Me habia paseado, otra vez, por las calles de Tokio. Habia tomado algunos vodkas con tonica, unos cuantos Juanitos Caminantes. Habia sufrido un poco, querido un poco mas, tenido mucho sexo.

Las primeras paginas del libro no me pareci...more No se si es mas triste que extrano sentir que uno puede vivir leyendo una novela (porque, en realidad, como puede uno decir que vive sin salir de su cuarto), pero eso me paso con Tokio Blues: senti que después de leer el libro, habia vivido un poco mas. Me habia paseado, otra vez, por las calles de Tokio. Habia tomado algunos vodkas con tonica, unos cuantos Juanitos Caminantes. Habia sufrido un poco, querido un poco mas, tenido mucho sexo.

Las primeras paginas del libro no me parecieron nada auspiciosas. De hecho, pense que, como es natural en mi, no me iba a gustar el libro porque me lo habian recomendado demasiado (sera que queda algo del espiritu pseudo anarquista de hace dos decadas). Me trague mis pensamientos. Aunque demore, porque el libro realmente me comenzo a gustar a partir del capitulo ocho (tiene once). Viva la esperanza.

La novela cuenta la historia de Toru Watanabe, (al que voy a re nombrar como Akio Nakamura, solo porque ayer en una fiesta habia un japones de ese nombre –el que, si, se presentaba con su apellido, no con su hombre-) de su vida de anti heroe entre alrededor de los 17 y los 20 anos en el Tokio de fines de los sesentas. Watanabe (que asi le llama todo el mundo en la novela, por su apellido, como Nakamura a si mismo) es un ser solitario, que se rebela contra el mundo pero nunca lo manifiesta (su rebelión es mas interior, pues). Es callado. Le gusta el alcohol. Le gusta leer. Le gustan las mujeres (3 de esos 4 ingredientes son suficientes para una novela).

Hay un racimo de temas recurrentes durante la novela: el sexo, la muerte, la soledad, la belleza fisica (esto es lo que de heroe tiene el antihéroe: se acuesta con mujeres guapas). Todos los personajes principales (Watanabe, Naoko, Midori, Nagasawa, Reiko) tienen algo de extranos, algo de diferentes, algo de rebeldes, mucho de solitarios.

La prosa es bastante directa (sin llegar los extremos de, digamos, Bukowski o Hemingway). Murakami es, aquí, un narrador de historias: el fondo importa mas que la forma. No se pierde mucho en descripciones extensas, ni en metáforas profundas. Es directo. Escupe las historias y ya.

Hay, sin duda, incluso después del capitulo ocho, algunos pasajes que deteste (una de las reacciones de Midori cuando Watanabe le es indiferente; lo predecibles que fueron tanto la muerte de Naoko como el final de la relacion entre Watanabe y Reiko). Pero me gusto en general. Es, al final, lo que se dice una historia de “coming of age” (como mierda traduzco esto al castellano? “Saliendo de edad?”; “Madurando?” Que poca imaginación tengo). En esto tiene un cierto aire a “The Catcher in the Rye”, de Salinger.
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"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 unico que puede hacerse es atravesar este dolor esperando aprender algo de el, , aunque todo lo que uno haya aprendido no le sirva para nada la proxima vez que la tristeza lo visite de improviso." More quotes...