Norwegian Wood book review

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin
Published by Vintage Books on September 12, 2000
Pages: 296
Goodreads

Toru, a quiet and preternaturally 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. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.
A magnificent blending of the music, the mood, and the ethos that was the sixties with the story of one college student's romantic coming of age, Norwegian Wood brilliantly recaptures a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love.

I read this one WAY back when in University and fell completely head over heels in love with the writing and the story of Norwegian Wood. There is something about this book that draws you in completely and breaks your heart. The characters are so well developed and are wonderfully written, you really do feel connected to each and every one of them in different ways. I loved this book when I read it back in university and my thoughts haven’t changed, this book really is something special and I think it will always be on the list of my favourite books. I definitely think I will be revisiting it over the years, it’s that good.

We follow Toru and his life as he works out who is he is and how the world around him works when the girl he loves goes into a sanatorium. There is so much about his character that makes this book so special, the way he looks at things in his life and his reaction to everything that was going on around him at the time is so perfect. There is no dramatics he just takes the hit and moves forward with his life. One thing I do wish he wouldn’t do quite as much as he does is sleep with anything that moves, it kind of cheapens him and it was a little hard to read about. It’s the one thing that bumped this down from being a five-star read.

One thing I want to touch on was Naoko and Midori because there was so much going on with both of them that I actually felt sorry for Toru for most of the stories. I’m not going to spoil anything but I feel like for the entire of Norwegian Wood he spends his time-bending himself to fit into these two women’s ideals. When he fails, which is inevitable the way they “punish” him was extreme and I felt nothing but sympathy for him. I wish there had been a little more understanding on both of their parts, especially Midori.

The best bits of Norwegian Wood for me and always will be the emotion that this book drags forward and explores. I cannot put into words how this book makes me feel because it is a complete rollercoaster, there were moments where I feel sadness and two pages later happiness. This book has a certain magic where I am so invested in the story and the characters that you can’t help but fall in love with everything about it.

Worst bits… I have mentioned sex above and I really think that I need to talk about it. In Norwegian Wood sex is discussed at length on many occasions and I think it disconnected me from the story a little. I would have loved for those moments to have been cut down slightly because I don’t think it added all that much to the story. I’m not a huge fan of the way sex is seen as the be all and end all in this story and I think it ruins some of the messages.

I would definitely recommend Norwegian Wood, it is one of my favourite books, and it always will be. If you’re looking for an atmospheric and character driven story then this is the one for you!

Have you read this one? Let me know what some of your favourite books are?