Norwegian Wood — Haruki Murakami Review

As I closed this book, I turned on “Norwegian Wood” by the Beatles and closed my eyes and let the book sink in for sometime until “The bird has flown away” lyric resonated with me.

This is my first Murakami book and it has left me with a sense of loss and a weird aftertaste — like when you wake up from a nap and you happen to forget what day/time it is.

This book starts when the main protagonist Toru Watanabe hears the Beatles song — “Norwegian wood” and a heavy avalanche of memories from his early adolescence days drop heavy on him. The days when he used to be an optimist and in love with Naoko.

Toru and Naoko grow closer in Tokyo after their best friend’s Kizuki’s death. Experiencing death so up close, in their teens, they struggle in their own ways to deal with it. Toru adapts to the university life in Tokyo and has a routine to overcome his loneliness and tries to be optimist in the darkness. However, Naoko struggles more to deal with the pressure that the life entails. This book covers mental health struggles in detail and also the impact it has on their loved ones. Throughout the book Toru likes to believe that Naoko will get better and rejoin the normal life. The heartbreak he faces when the bird flies away is too gut wrenching. But he has to move on. That’s what this book is about. To let go: accept and move on.

Haven’t we all been there? Haven’t we all lost a friend/relative, grew apart from the bonds we thought would last forever? This book just hits that nerve. However, there were poorly written smut scenes, which I thought added bad taste to the novel.

After reading this one, I do wonder what if this was written from Naoko’s point of view. I guess it would have been too dark for me to finish it in this case.