‘Norwegian Wood’ is a beautifully crafted and incredibly sensual story of the unfulfilled longing of love, where mostly all characters are broken individuals, broken from inside in some way or the other. The complete story is written in a flashback which starts with our protagonist ‘Toru Watanabe’ catching the melody of Beatles’ ‘Norwegian Wood’ on a flight, and he starts remembering his youth spent in Tokyo. The storyline revolves mostly around three central characters - Toru, Naoko, Midori.
In this novel, Haruki Murakami has also touched upon the ‘Japanese’ experience of transitioning into adulthood during the years 1968 to 1970 through the eyes of Toru. The transition itself has been shown to be stressful and challenging, as evident through multiple suicides showcased in the book. The feeling of reading ‘Norwegian Wood’ is like that of being in a blank, dreamy world, which is very similar to most of Murakami’s work, although there’s no magical realism here. This is very much a story set in the real world, with rational events happening.
If I have to pick a core theme of the book, I would say it’s ‘Sadness’ or ‘Sorrow’, which indeed is a complicated emotion. It has an ability to immerse you completely in an alternate reality, where nothing else matters. Murakami’s work would make you feel this sorrow which is evident throughout the book, through various characters, but most precisely through the protagonist and Naoko.
It would not be right to summarize the plot here, as it won’t do justice to this beautiful piece of work. The book is more of an emotion, a feeling that you need to feel, as you read it.
Like some of the other works of Murakami, this one too has an open ending, which can be interpreted in various ways by the readers. It is also confusing and frustrating to know that there is no definite end to the story, and as a reader, I was left longing for more, for a definite ending.
Please go ahead and pick this one, you won’t be disappointed. I would rate it 4.5/5, not a complete 5,, because I'm more fond of definite endings. :)
Overall Rating - 4.5/5
Opmerkingen