"Norwegian Wood" published in 1987 by Haruki Murakami. The story is set in the late 1960s in Tokyo, Japan, and follows the life of Toru Watanabe, a college student who is struggling to come to terms with the suicide of his best friend, Kizuki. Toru finds solace in his relationship with Kizuki's girlfriend, Naoko, who is dealing with her emotional issues.
As Toru navigates his way through the complexities of love and loss, he becomes drawn into a world of unconventional relationships and explores the themes of sexuality, mental health, and the search for meaning in life. Along the way, he encounters a cast of intriguing characters, including Midori, a vibrant and independent young woman who captures his heart.
The novel is a poignant and introspective exploration of the human condition, as seen through the eyes of a young man grappling with the challenges of growing up and finding his place in the world. Murakami's lyrical prose and vivid descriptions of Tokyo's vibrant counterculture make "Norwegian Wood" a timeless and thought-provoking work of literature.
It is a 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.
Describing the highs of adolescence as well as the lows, this book is genuinely emotionally engaging. Sweet pain of one side love, suicide, and how it effects the life of close friends and relatives. Title comes from the famous song which leads to the flashback from 'Thoru's life. 37 year old, who on his way to Germany listen's to this song.
Kizuki's loss bring Thoru and Novku together, set in 1960's in Japan. They shift to Tokyo and meet there. Nagasava one of the most selfish character, but helps him progress.
'Don't feel sorry about yourself, only ass holes do that' You can always do that.
Mithori comes to Thoru's life, she is a comical relief, in otherwise sad story. How she lie naked in front of her dead father's death. Did not cry at his fathers funeral, as she was very tired taking care of her sick parent in hospital. She did not cry when he died, but within few days, go to the pub and dances her heart away.
Some choose life over death, and some choose to suicide. A book with open ending. Book does not give closer but leaves it to interpretation.
"Gripping the receiver, I raised my heads and turned to see what lay beyond the phone box. Where was I now? I had no idea. No idea at all. Where was this place? All that flashed into my eyes were the countless shapes of people walking by to nowhere. Again and again I called out for Midori from the dead centre of this place that was no place."
View 1: When his friend kills himself the 'sickness', meaning depression and unability to cope with life, is passed on to Naoko. It hurts her on a fundamental level. She turns to the protagonist in hopes that he can save her, but in the end he fails.
When Naoko commits suicide the 'sickness' is passed on to him. He becomes unable to cope with life. He feels disconnected and confused and he is crying out for Midori to save him, because he can't do it on his own anymore.
This is a circle of action and reaction. A person can be hurt on such a fundamental level that no love in the world could save him/her. And a person in pain may accidentally hurt his/her loved ones in exactly that manner, without ever intending to.
So in the end the fear remains that the story will repeat itself.
View 2: Watanabe is shown to be someone who cannot open up about his problems - even his friend Nagasawa comments on how he is secretive when it comes to his personal life. And because the book is in Watanabe's voice, i got the feeling that he was always struggling to be detached from the many problems in his life.
However, in the end, he finally decides to 'open' up to all the tragedy in his life - and the feeling of 'dead centre' etc comes from finally allowing all the tragedies to affect him. he's finally letting go.
We're not told if he is pulled back from this darkness by Midori, who is at the other end of the telephone line - but I'd like to believe she did. Just the fact that Watanabe chose Midori over Naoko shows that he chose life over death, I think.
Another reason why i thought it all ended well is because the story begins 10 years later, when he is in the plane and he hears "Norwegian Woods" playing. He loses control for an instance, but then recovers. I think it shows that though he is scarred by his past, he has also managed to move on.
View 3: The ending of this book is hiding in plain sight, it's in the first paragraph of the book, a lonely grown-up man outliving and reliving the tragic loss of his best friends.
Reeko or Ricko - a musician who has suffered a lot, 11 years elder than Thoru and
Deeply illusive and emotional read, on mental health. It is not a love story. Life is lived, you feel, contemplative, realistic. The ways of the characters existing, you feel connected. It navigates the subject of lost love. It is the surrendering of self, that creates problem. It teaches you how not to love, It is not an antidote to happiness. Story is based on swallow, fleeting recollection of growing up, and not in actual leaving.
Theme of time, memory, death and it's imprint on life. Contemplate life, death, friendship,
"But death was a fact a serious fact, no matter how you looked at it. Stuck inside this suffocating contradiction, I went on endlessly spinning in circles. Those were strange days, now that I look back at them, In the midst of life, everything revolved around death. "
What makes us so normal, is knowing that we are not normal.
A book with a very profound effect.
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