Book Review: "Norwegian Wood" by Murakami

Picture Credit: Amazon

General Description

Book name-Norwegian Wood

Author- Haruki Murakami

Genre- Fiction

Trigger warnings- Death, Depression, Lesbophbia, Rape and Suicide 

Language- Japanese (Translated to English)

Publication date: 1987

“The dead will always be dead, but we have to go on living.”

Set in the 1960s,post-Second World War Japan, Norwegian Wood is an enigmatic coming-of-age novel by Haruki Murakami. The book explores several themes including depression, suicide, grief and growth. This novel raised Murakami to the status of a literary superstar, making him immensely popular in both the East and the West. In 2010 the book was also turned into a film adaptation.

Simply put, Norwegian Wood's message is to accept death and keep on living.  

About the Author

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” 

Haruki Murakami is a critically acclaimed contemporary Japanese writer. His utterly captivating writing style has made him an international bestseller. Murakami has always found inspiration in music, and these influences can be found in all of his writing. Murakami attended Waseda University in Tokyo to study drama. His first job was at a record shop, which is also where the protagonist is in Norwegian Woodworks.

Synopsis

"I want to know more about you," she said.

"I'm just an ordinary guy - ordinary family, ordinary education,

ordinary face, ordinary exam results, ordinary thoughts in my head."

The reader’s attention is drawn into the book from the very beginning when the 37-year-old protagonist is struck by nostalgia after he hears the song “Norwegian Wood” by The Beatles, from their 1965 album Rubber Soul playing on the speaker of an aeroplane. From this point, the story of an “ordinary” man, Toru Watanabe begins.

As many characters die, they leave behind a torrent of memories that the people close to them have to browse through for a long time. The storyline also includes other female characters- Naoko and Midori who have significantly impacted Toru Watanabe’s life. Murakami has constructed the plot in a way that begins with an end and ends with a start. Toru grows up in a close-knit group of friends with his best friend, Kizuki, and Kizuki’s girlfriend, Naoko but the unexpected suicide of Kizuki on his seventeenth birthday upends everyone’s happiness.

Despite occasional dealing with the heavy subject matter, the novel ends on an ambiguously hopeful note. 

Towards the conclusion of the novel, even Naoko kills herself as life becomes unbearable for her. As she was his first love, Watanabe is grief-stricken after the news and spends a month wandering aimlessly away from Tokyo. He finds it difficult to deal with life. People come and go in Watanabe's life first was his best friend Kizuki’s death then Nagasawa, Hatsumi's suicide and the most painful Naoko's suicide but still he didn't lose his hope for living.

Murakami has beautifully pictured Watanabe’s journey in accepting their death and the reality of life. He looks up to Midori to save him from his grief. 

Personal Review 

Rating- 4/5

“What makes us most normal, is knowing that we’re not normal” 

Some people might consider it a romance novel but is it really? 

The first step in understanding Norwegian Wood is to avoid categorizing it as a romance novel. Even though love plays a significant role in moulding the lives of Norwegian Wood's three central characters but it isn't a typical love story, centred around the notion that "love conquers all".

The novel revisits and breaks the stereotype of what is “ being normal”.it’s a novel that makes you revisit and question the fundamental concepts of human existence and love.

Favourite Quotes

Murakami has crafted beautiful lines throughout the book and here are a few of my favourite ones

“Death is not the opposite of life but an innate part of life,''

“Despite your best efforts, people are going to be hurt when it's time for them to be hurt.” 

“Only the Dead stay seventeen forever.” 

“People leave strange little memories of themselves behind when they die.” 

Written By: Rhea Anand

Edited By: Nidhi Jha