Norwegian Wood (Movie Tie-in Edition) (Vintage International)

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.

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

This book may have been the best book I've read in my 19 years of life. (And I've read a lot, i love reading) I cannot describe why it's so beautiful. It's something you have to give a try, to understand how peak this is.

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.

Probably his greatest book. I very much enjoyed the story and listened to all songs mentioned along the chapters. Recommend!