Norwegian Wood
by Haruki Murakami
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Book Summary Information
Author: Haruki MurakamiTranslator: Jay Rubin
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-09-12
ISBN: 0375704027
Number of pages: 298
Publisher: Vintage
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780375704024
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Norwegian Wood
Book Review: "I once had a girl . . . "
Summary: 5 Stars
" . . . or should I say, she once had me?" The opening line of the Beatles' enigmatic hit "Norwegian Wood" might almost be a summary of Haruki Murakami's 2000 novel of the same title. Toru Watanabe, a Japanese writer traveling to Germany, hearing the song over the airplane sound-system, is pulled back two decades to his first years at university in Tokyo. The girl, Naoko, clearly exerted a strong hold over him, though her face is disappearing into the mists of the past. When Toru met her, Naoko was sweetheart of his best friend in high school, Kizuki; both of them were left abandoned when Kizuki was killed shortly before graduation. Toru meets up with her again in Tokyo, and for most of the year they maintain a challenging weekend friendship that, though emotionally enigmatic, is clearly necessary to both of them. Then Naoko unexpectedly drops out of school.
Toru, meanwhile, is going through all the usual freshman challenges: balancing social life and study, getting used to dormitory living, negotiating detente with a roommate, meeting people from backgrounds other than his own, and finding his bearings around girls. For while his relationship with Naoko is basically chaste, Toru falls in with a brilliant student named Nagasawa whose principal distraction from studying for (and acing) his Foreign Service exams is going on Saturday night prowls for bar girls, and some of his success rubs off. And almost as a result of this promiscuity, the moral dimension of the book opens up. One of the things that greatly impresses me about the novel is how totally it avoids being preachy. Friendships grow in their various ways, and quite separately, drunken or otherwise, flings happen. It is only gradually that Toru realizes the contradictions and begins to form a personal ethic that ushers him into adulthood. As I recall, this business of doing it first and understanding it later is what late adolescence is mostly about.
Forget the Japanese setting; this is student life anywhere. People who have grown up with the Beatles and other artists of the sixties will also identify with the many musical references that play through the novel like a soundtrack. The book's sexuality is also perfect for its age-group: sometimes raunchy, sometimes jokey, occasionally surprisingly tender. Midori, Toru's closest friend in Tokyo after Naoko leaves, is as liberated as they come, but her life is also darkly shadowed. Because this period of wild experiment and life-changing discoveries also brings one close to tragedy. Many of the companions in Toru's memories have since died, some by their own hand. Happiness is fragile and life laced with loss, but Murakami can be entirely trusted as a guide to both. I cannot think of a better book for young adults to read; just be aware that they will run a mile before discussing it with their parents!
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