Haruki Murakami

The tragic death of their best friend has a profound influence on the passionate relationship between Toru, a serious young college student in Tokyo, and Naoko, an introspective, beauty, as Toru finds himself drawn to an independent, sexually liberated young woman. Original. 50,000 first printing.

Norwegian Wood

ノルウェイの森 / Noruwei no mori

When he hears her favourite Beatles song, Toru Watanabe recalls his first love Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki. Immediately he is transported back almost twenty years to his student days in Tokyo, adrift in a world of uneasy friendships, casual sex, passion, loss and desire - to a time when an impetuous young woman called Midori marches into his life and he has to choose between the future and the past.

akshita

Her milk was on the house if she would play the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun", said the girl. Reiko gave her a thumbs up and launched into the song. Hers was not a full voice and too much smoking had given it a husky edge, but it was lovely, with real presence. I almost felt as if the sun really was coming up again as I sat there listening and drinking beer and looking at the mountains. It was a soft, warm feeling.

Emiley Jones

No truth can cure the sadness we feel from losing a loved one. No truth, no sincerity, no strength, no kindness can cure that sorrow. All we can do is see that sadness through to the end and learn something from it. But what we learn will be no help in facing the next sadness that comes to us without warning. 

If you’re in pitch blackness, all you can do is sit tight until your eyes get used to the dark. 

Thinking back on the year 1969, all that comes to mind for me is a swamp. A deep, sticky bog that feels as if it’s going to suck off my shoe each time I take a step. I walk through the mud exhausted. In front of me, behind me, I can see nothing but the endless darkness of a swamp. Time itself slogged along in rhythm with my faltering steps. The people around me had gone on ahead long before, while my time and I hung back, struggling through the mud.

I have a lot more patience for others than I have for myself, and I’m much better at bringing out the best in others than in myself. That’s just the kind of person I am. I’m the scratchy stuff on the side of the matchbox. But that’s fine with me, I don’t mind at all. Better to be a first class matchbox than a second class match.

The sad truth is that what I could recall in five seconds all too soon needed ten, then thirty, then a full minute. Like shadows lengthening at dusk.

john

Read the haunting love story that turned Murakami into a literary superstar. When he hears her favourite Beatles song, Toru Watanabe recalls his first love Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki. Immediately he is transported back almost twenty years to his student days in Tokyo, adrift in a world of uneasy friendships, casual sex, passion, loss and desire - to a time when an impetuous young woman called Midori marches into his life and he has to choose between the future and the past. 'Evocative, entertaining, sexy and funny; but then Murakami is one of the best writers around' Time Out 'Such is the exquisite, gossamer construction of Murakami's writing that everything he chooses to describe trembles with symbolic possibility' Guardian 'This book is undeniably hip, full of student uprisings, free love, booze and 1960s pop, it's also genuinely emotionally engaging, and describes the highs of adolescence as well as the lows' Independent on Sunday

Caroline Clutterbuck Kapulkin

'But who can say what's best? That's why you need to grab every chance for happiness when you find it.'

Letter-writing holds such a prominent place in this novel, one I wasn't expecting when I first started reading. The last third almost becomes entirely epistolary (especially considering Toru is recording these memories from present-day), as he is isolated from the most important people in his life.

At first letter-writing is mentioned by Naoko (p.86) as a freeing, beautiful thing - to sit down to the difficult task of conveying your thoughts, whether successful or not. Their relationship is held together by those letters, strengthening it. Until the last third of the book, when letters become Toru's only lifeline.

It was as if I were writing letters to hold together the crumbling pieces of my life.

There are so many exquisite descriptions in this novel, it’s hard to choose what to quote. His descriptions of the Ami Hostel are particularly striking. 

As before, there was no sign of people present, and there were no sounds of any kind. I felt as if I were living alone in an extremely well-cared-for ruin.

How wonderful it is to be able to write someone a letter! To feel like conveying your thoughts to a person, to sit at your desk and pick up a pen, to put your thoughts into words like this is truly marvelous. Of course, once I do put them into words, I find I can only express a fraction of what I want to say, but that’s all right. I'm happy just to be able to feel I want to write to someone. And so I am writing to you.

Stunning and elegiac, Norwegian Wood first propelled Haruki Murakami into the forefront of the literary scene. Toru, a serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. As Naoko retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman. A magnificent coming-of-age story steeped in nostalgia, Norwegian Wood blends the music, the mood, and the ethos that were the sixties with a young man’s hopeless and heroic first love.

Beatrix

I have always loved Naoko, and I still love her. But there is a decisive finality to what exists between Midori and me. It has an irresistible power that is bound to sweep me into the future.

“Nobody likes being alone. I just hate to be disappointed.”

Tori Perdue

Death was not the opposite of life. It was already here, within my being, it had always been here, and no strugglewould permit me to forget that. 

There is no way around it my memory is growing ever more distant from the spot where Naoko used to stand—ever more distant from the spot where my old self used to stand.

kemi

Death exists—in a paperweight, in four red and white balls on a billiard table—and we go on living and breathing it into our lungs like fine dust.

If I have left a wound inside you, it is not just your wound but mine as well.

Brett Lister

Death exists, not as the opposite but as a part of life.

Beatriz Salvador 

Sometimes I feel like the caretaker of a museum a huge, empty museum where no one ever comes, and I'm watching over it for no one but myself.

Angela Miramontes

If I relaxed my body now, I'd fall apart. I've always lived like this, and it's the only way I know how to go on living. If I relaxed for a second, I'd never find my way back. I'd go to pieces, and the pieces would be blown away.

Death exists, not as the opposite but as a part of life. It's a cliché translated into words, but at the time I felt it not as words but as that knot of air inside me. Death exists -in a paperweight, in four red and white balls on a pool table - and we go on living and breathing it into our lungs like fine dust. 

Au cours d'un voyage en avion, le narrateur entend une chanson des Beatles: Norwegian Wood. Instantanément, il replonge dans le souvenir d'un amour vieux de dix-huit ans. Quand il était lycéen, son meilleur ami, Kizuki, s'est suicidé. Kizuki avait une amie, Naoko. Ils étaient amoureux. Un an après ce suicide, le narrateur retrouve Naoko. Elle est incertaine et angoissée, il l'aime ainsi. Une nuit, elle lui livre son secret, puis disparaît... Hommage aux amours enfuies, La Ballade de l'impossible est un magnifique roman aux résonances autobiographiques, d'une tendresse et d'une intensité érotique saisissantes.

La ballade de l'impossible

Noah Fleury

Anna

Vasilia Alexandra

clearly i was unable to digest this book 'properly' while devouring it in one sitting but seven pages down in the first chapter is more than enough for me to grasped on how it revolves on complexity of human connection with love, death, and life itself along with its confusion. it's certainly not something that i know of nor something that i'm familiar with. though at some point it does feels like i might've long forgotten it because somehow it gives a nostalgic feeling but i just couldn't pinpoint it i spent hours—even during the mass—to think about it and then it hits. the desperate needs to be seen, to feel seen, and understood. the sense of belonging. so mundane, weirdly realistic, and raw it leaves me with nothing but unsettling disorientation at the back of my throat. uncomfortable, yes. mainly because i have to navigate, working on the ending as if my own life is not enough of a burden. just kidding, i love it when i am forced to use my head more, it is comforting. the real reason is the portrayal of women. naoko, midori, reiko nevertheless, i am enjoying it. it somehow validates my personal experiences with rush of emotions and i would definitely find myself coming to this book when i am lacking all the colors but blue.

This was my first by Murakami. His writing is beautiful and impactful—I plan to read more of his work even though this book didn’t hit the mark for me.

I found the exploration of grief, depression, and loneliness intriguing, but couldn’t ignore the way women and sex are treated and represented 🙃

It’s a testament to his writing that I still felt engrossed and engaged, though.

This was my first by Murakami. His writing is beautiful and impactful—I plan to read more of his work even though this book didn’t hit the mark for me.

I found the exploration of grief, depression, and loneliness intriguing, but couldn’t ignore the way women and sex are treated and represented 🙃

It’s a testament to his writing that I still felt engrossed and engaged, though.

Lara Engle

This book is really perplexing for me. I both loved it and hated it, so I'm giving it a rating right in the middle. The language is gorgeous. The allusions to The Beatles and The Great Gatsby and other music and literature were entrancing. I'm not sure if the The Catcher in the Rye feeling was intentional, but these books are two sides of the same coin to me. At the same time, most of the characters are so self-centered and awful. The objectification of women and misogyny were just gross. I'm not mad that I read this, but I think maybe Haruki Murakami is just not for me.

Nikola

altlovesbooks

This was a bittersweet story for me. I found myself thinking back to people I have known and family members I have lost, especially in the last half of this book. I've read Murakami's recent stuff and am working backwards now, and I appreciate seeing how his style has changed. This was very much a straightforward story when compared to other Murakami books I've read, and I enjoyed it all the same.

Jenny Vuu

I was uncomfortable with some certain parts in the novel but besides that Norwegian Wood was a truly fascinating read. It did not solely focus on the romance but also dealt with the meaning of both life and death.

claire law

This book made me feel weird like I was in an alternate universe and couldn’t tell what was different about it...

marie

if a man tells you this is his favorite book, run

Of course, I kind of liked it - it is Murakami after all; he is able to create a vivid and unique package for each story of his. But my personal truth has to be told nonetheless: This story is full of weak, objectified female characters, that are constructed to revolve around Toru, a midly interesting protagonist. Although there are a few absorbing moments between him and the female characters, I found myself more than once feeling the cringe strongly. Sometimes I thought to read (vaguely somewhere between the lines) some sort of ironic criticism in regards to the female position in the midst of Shōwa era and also current Japan, but that was about it. By all means, it is not the duty of every book to be written in favor of a ‚positive‘ female depiction (and the protagonist was about a male adolescent after all) but this book just leaks of irrelevant fantasies, that interfere with a potentially great story. 

I was entertained and got something back for my time; but I won‘t be reaching for Murakami for a while.

Another murikami which I enjoyed, and I see what people mean about the way that he writes about women but it does not stop me from finding it an interesting read. I love Midori. 

Kitty Carter 

Victoria

I usually am able to finish a book in a day or two days, tops. But I keep putting this down because I didn’t want it to end. I also didn’t want to start reading anything else because I want all my attention on this.

It’s a story about loss, love, pain, suffering and everything else that goes around and with it. It’s sad and it’s heartbreaking. This book would make you feel things you might have never felt before.

Haruki Murakami is an impeccable author and I can’t wait to devour his other works.

enya

murakami is a good writer but such a misogynist...

I went into this book only knowing that it’s highly regarded. I enjoyed it, but there should be a huge trigger warning for SA and suicide in the book. The description of landscape was beautiful and there were a few realllllllly good things that I needed to read. 

Lindsey Combs

I still need to gather my thoughts on this one; I talked a lot with Daniel about it last night and this morning, and I really enjoyed discussing it with him. So many quotes I want to write down.

'It was as if I were writing letters to hold together the crumbling pieces of my life.'

The last third of the novel is heavily epistolary, when Toru is left standing in place.

My copy is riddled with underlines and margin notes - it's been a long while since I've read a book like this. I really loved it, and at the same time it made me deeply sad. And grateful for the relationships and happiness I have in my own life.

I still need to gather my thoughts on this one; I talked a lot with Daniel about it last night and this morning, and I really enjoyed discussing it with him. So many quotes I want to write down.

'It was as if I were writing letters to hold together the crumbling pieces of my life.'

The last third of the novel is heavily epistolary, when Toru is left standing in place.

My copy is riddled with underlines and margin notes - it's been a long while since I've read a book like this. I really loved it, and at the same time it made me deeply sad. And grateful for the relationships and happiness I have in my own life.

'But who can say what's best? That's why you need to grab every chance for happiness when you find it.'

Sarthak Verma

I liked it. Even after being in the real world, it was surreal at times, had its mysteries, and ended on a pretty inquisitive note. It was a definite page-turner and acted like a portal that took me to a different world. I'm a sucker for brand-new experiences, that bring me to a whole different place.

If you're starting with reading Murakami or have already read his work, this is definitely a book-to-go.

Carolina Velazquez 

** spoiler alert **
           “what the hell was this all about…? what could it possibly mean?”

sgcjm

sun down. its evening hits at the moments and a glimpse of little rain come to earth while im done read this book. so many diverse feeling that combined as im concluded to wrapped up what ive got in this book. one in the highlight color line of what i feel related most after by readed this book is that how the depression eat alive a humankind figured could destroyed not only those person but also the surrounding as it speaks. these one of the chapter where it talked bout how it got on explanation the one person whom from outside lookin fine without a flaw and even stand out good as a human decent but turned out. once again. we never knew someone struggle just by judgin a sight from the cover. and in the end. she gone. she lost. lost on her battle with the depression and end up the life she had. that part. im so done on my knees. cause i feel it what she had there. once you had this mental issues and its like all along your life just tryna to get out on this cage for bein a normal human again like before. i related alot with the topic of depression here. and with many various life lessons i got from others character. how toru livin his life doin as his best wind his spring thorugh mundane life as a college fine man. and the perspective that nagasawa had somehow im agreed with that. not that im in fully accepted his behaviour humanity but a little words of him get me. when he put told that why bothersome on bein understand of others human when life itself so complex and somehow all others did only makes us fall terrible in pain so then fck off on that. thats mind of him that related on me. im so tired of this cycle of life whichever im bein in pain too much because of what others did to me. and for makin it worse when it triggered my mental issues. so thats how i lived nowdays. i dont give a fck with others things. as long i do what i should do as a human functioning in this capitalism system and thats it. otherwise im not wasting my time just for pleasing others. i had done enough in the past. pages over pages where in the beginning its about them both. toru and naoko. the encounter and how those trivial habit of theirs makes my heart warm some type away. and for a little bit makes me believe in love again. so beautifully what they did before. doin strolling walked without destination but just flow like a soft tide over the shore. scent of the breezes appears and sight of the each different neighbourhood japan that they goin by walked by both. im painting that scenes on my mind and it just makes me happy. like before. murakami power on makes those mundaneness hold a special side of book scenes. amazed as always i am. next. about the term death. it feels the weight hard. but on that scenes. where naoko choosed what she wanted to choose. death. so much wound opened up on myself in that chapter. it just so sad. painfully sad. but then i feel consolation understanding phase as when naoko comes by appears on toru mind. where she said dont worry about me. it just death. dont let it bother you. im even feel more safe here. thats it. i keep staring and digesting those lines by repeat and in the closed end i figured that and learned to chasing on what it means. to be aware that without we knew when we maked a vow for take a step in this life its also the beginning journey before we met on our death. isnt it. murakami. just wanna said. with your book ive grown much to be a human with more wide sight on how universes us human works. im thankful on that. your book saved me. teach me so much.

sarah

the last chapter somehow made me a mess. i'm in a mix of emotions. it was a really nice read. i love adore midori's character. i love reiko's advices to toru bcos i was able to learn from it too haha.

Anna Ureta

Here’s another book I never thought I’d read or review.
 (Well no that’s not true, I’ve always been interested in Haruki Murakami’s work – I’ve just never had reason to read it until now). This book was recommended to me by a very dear friend, who I greatly admire, and who I hope to continue to read books with in the future.
 I never expected to like it as much as I did, going in with absolutely no idea of what the novel was about (only that they did a film adaptation in 2010, which I need to see).
Norwegian Wood is a beautifully written, albeit unconventional coming of age story – written from the point of view of young man during his late teens to his twenties.

For once I’m not going to write a brief summary of the novel because there is just too much to say and too much that goes on.
 It follows the story of Toru Watanabe as he deals with his sexuality and the relationships with various women he comes to know. The novel emphasizes love and the various forms of it, loss, and very complex ideas of acceptance.

“No truth can cure the sorrow we feel from losing a loved one. No truth, no sincerity, no strength, no kindness can cure that sorrow. All we can do is see it through to the end and learn something from it, but what we learn will be no help in facing the next sorrow that comes to us without warning.”

Strangely enough, what I got out of this book was peace and tranquility – and perhaps that is an odd answer.
 I felt extremely calm with the way the words flowed like poetry and with ease. I can’t explain why, but I enjoyed the book more because of the feeling of peace it gave me and not for the story (even though the story was complex and extremely enjoyable). Although some may find it boring, and very flat-toned I for one, found it extremely enjoyable. And perhaps other readers think Watanabe is boring, and doesn’t do much with his life, but I found the characters to be extremely relatable (but what does that say about me as a person).

Perhaps readers may find Watanabe extremely unconventional or perhaps exceptionally ordinary. But he is an honest, and I believe very respectable, young man who is surrounded by events that are out of his control and people whom he doesn’t understand (or at least he tries to).

The story is slow but very well-paced, calm, intuitive, and extremely reflective. Perhaps not a typical coming of age story, but something I think I would recommend to young adults (I mean in their early twenties).

I believe in the future I’ll try to pick up more of Murakami’s novels, but for now I have to work on all the books currently sitting on my shelves.

5/5 Hearts of Love

So so good!! I need to write letters to my lovers now

aves! 

Trish

I am so glad that Norwegian Wood was my first Murakami book. It is one of the "realistic" novels that he has written and is a great way to ease into his world and familiarize yourself with his style of writing. There were times when I could tell that the translation made certain dialogues or sayings awkward, but it somehow added to the many idiosyncrasies of the characters. That being said, I loved all the characters so much. And all the relationships, between people alive and dead, were so well established, it amazed me how much Murakami was able to accomplish in less than 300 pages. Of course I wasn't expecting there to be so much mention of sex and sexuality in the book, but it did help pass the time. I didn't realize it before but Midori evoked a new curiosity in me and I admired how clumsy and real every sexual encounter in the novel was - not a single one romanticized or glamorized. All in all, I was every bit surprised and impressed with this book, and I love it far more than I expected to. I'm almost scared to read another book by Murakami because I'm afraid it won't live up to Norwegian Wood. Nonetheless, I'm sure one lazy Sunday morning, I'll pick up Kafka on the Shore from my shelf and indulge myself in his beautiful writing.

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Jesse Morley

It's been a long time since I last consumed a novel as voraciously as I did Norwegian Wood. One for the emotions rather than the intellect, but not in a negative sense.

Toru's final sexual encounter was possibly a little far-fetched in my eyes, but it helped reinforce the role that sex played in the novel more generally.

Norwegian Wood

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