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¡°If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.¡±
Norwegian Wood ~~ Haruki Murakami



WOW ~~ what a terrific read Murakami's Norwegian Wood is! I loved this book. Even without the presence of talking cats, hollow earth monsters, and dimensional shifting characters, Norwegian Wood is a magical read. Best of all, we still get those Murakami flourishes of The Beatles (obviously), references to THE GREAT GATSBY, a character or two with uniquely large penises, and cats of the non-talking variety.

RANDOM THOUGHT 1: How brilliant to build and structure an entire novel around two lines from a lyric ~~
I once had a girl
Or should I say she once had me



After reading many reviews here, I believe my take on Norwegian Wood to be quite different than most readers. This is Toru's story from start to finish. It is not the story of the love affair between Toru and Naoko as so many claim. Naoko, is a supporting character in Toru's journey as are Midori, Kizuki, Nagasawa & Reiko. I understand the fascination with Naoko, the doomed heroine we wish to save, but she is not the core of this story. The soul of this story is Toru ~~ we all wish we had a Toru in our life. It is Toru's journey we are embarking upon.

RANDOM THOUGHT 2: Norwegian Wood is Murakami's homage to THE GREAT GATSBY with Toru cast in the Nick Carraway role; this makes the others loosely cast ~~ Naoko is Daisy Buchanan, & Kizuki is Jay Gatsby. This would make Midori ~~ Jordan Baker, Nagasawa ~~ Tom Buchanan & Reiko ~~ Myrtle Wilson. It's not as far fetched as you are initially thinking.

OK ~~ let's move onto a proper review.

¡°What happens when people open their hearts?"
"They get better.¡±
Haruki Murakami ~~ Norwegian Wood



I found Norwegian Wood to be a beautifully optimistic book in the end. But it was a painful journey to arrive there. It is a wonderful book filled with some of Murakami's most beautiful prose. Our hero is Toru Wanatebe, a charming, honest, straight forward, no nonsense young man. Toru is perhaps Murakami's most easily identifiable lead character in all his books. Toru is wise beyond his years, a very deep thinker, and reads classic literature ~~ Mann, Fitzgerald, Hemingway. And he is very fucked up.

The story is told by Toru ~~ again, let me be clear on this. Norwegian Wood is the story of Toru's journey into adulthood; Norwegian Wood is not the love story of Toru and Naoko. To make it so limits what Murakami achieves ~~ and what he achieves is brilliant. Toru moves to Tokyo for his university studies because he wants to get away from a difficult event ~~ the suicide of his best friend Kizuki. Kuzuki's death has shattered Toru; his only way forward is to move on.

Naoko, the girlfriend of Kuzuki also comes to Tokyo for the same reason; a chance encounter one day brings them together. Toru is in love with Naoko but Naoko cannot love him back; she is broken. She is filled with a darkness that no one can penetrate. She isn't fighting demons; she is the demon.

Into this world comes Midori; she is the anti-Naoko ~~ fun, vivacious and full of life. But as with everyone else in this world, Midori is broken as well. Midori falls in love with Toru; but the road to love is filled with obstacles. They each struggle to keep their demons in check in this world built upon passion, grief, sex, denial, friendships and death ~~ lots of death.



Toru is increasingly torn by what he perceives to be his duty to Naoko and his feelings for Midori. The problem is that Naoko is incapable of love. She has never been able to love anyone. We do not learn the reason for Kizuki's suicide, but I believe it is due to Naoko's inability to love him. Kizuki has been devoted to Naoko his entire life; they grew up together. At 17, I believe he came to the realization that the love he felt for Naoko was not returned & never would be. To Naoko, their relationship was a game. Naoko does not have relationships, instead she plays games with the emotions of those who love her. Even her relationship with Reiko is built upon these games she plays.

Naoko is broken beyond repair, and she knows it. Yet she continues to play games with Toru. It will be many years before Toru realizes Naoko did not love him and was incapable of love; I'm sure he comes to realize Naoko's hand in Kizuki's death as well. Toru is the rock that so many build their lives on, and yet when with Naoko he becomes weak-willed and blue. She strings him along leading him to believe she desires him, but it is all a game. And there is always the ghost of Kizuki casting a shadow over the two of them ~~ a ghost that still haunts Naoko.

And there is Midori; she loves Toru, is available to him emotionally in a way that Naoko will never be, and best of all, she is not looking for a savior. If anything, Midori can save Toru. And yet Toru cannot commit to her. He is frozen. It is Toru¡¯s indecisiveness that makes him live a life filled with drinking, casual sex, uneasy friendships, forced isolation, regret and melancholia. I told you Toru is fucked up.



Murakami, while emphasizing themes of death, love and disconnectedness, on Toru's journey, does not ignore the details Toru's day to day life as a university student. We journey with Toru to his classes, part time jobs and drinking at clubs with his only male friend, Nagasawa: we experience Toru's forays with casual sex and hookups and his inability to relate to the world around him. We feel the pressures on Toru to make choices at a young age. I loved Toru, wanted him as friend and was so angry at the poor choices he made along this journey.

Now, about that ending ~~ many of you who read Norwegian Wood have complained about the vagueness of the ending. I disagree. I think it was one of Murakami's clearest endings. Throughout Norwegian Wood, Toru never seems able to define himself apart from the people around him. He states himself that he is nothing special, possesses no special skills. He even describes his penis as ordinary. He's constantly the third wheel in his relationships ~~ Kizuki & Naoko, Naoko & Reiko, Nagasawa & Hatsumi. He tells stories about his roommate to impress people all the while never really telling anyone, including the reader much about himself. Toru defines himself by his perceived responsibility to be Naoko's emotional stability. With her gone, he's suddenly lost his purpose. The one thing he's been living for is gone and now he has to choose to move forward with his life as himself, not as Kizuki's friend, not as Naoko's lover, but as Toru. For the first time he must navigate the world as Toru. How liberating and terrifying it must be for him to be free from the past for the first time in his life. The subtlety of the ending perfectly reflects the delicateness and elusiveness with which Murakami renders this story of youth. He doesn¡¯t wallow in the emotions but lets us feel Toru¡¯s bewilderment as he approaches the crossroads of his life. Deceptively simple in terms of plot, the writing is so beautiful & the result is surprisingly affecting.

In the end, Norwegian Wood is a book which you can't help but loving. Murakami wins the reader over with abundant charm, echoes of youth, and a story we can all relate to.