#CBR5 Review #53: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
A story of a young man’s unrequited love, tangled in a web
of death, mental illness, and the impact of sexual experience upon a person’s
life. I was unaware that that last point would play such an important role in
the story of Norwegian Wood, which
made reading on the bus next to an older women conspicuously reading over my shoulder a bit
of an interesting experience. In general, however, this novel
focuses on the confusing time that is a person’s late teens, and how certain
moments have the power to stay with us all through our lives.
Norwegian Wood
begins with a 37-year-old Toru Watanabe, suddenly being hit with a wave of
nostalgia, and memories from the 1960s when he was around 17-20 years old. And
the trigger of these memories? An orchestral version of The Beatles’ “Norwegian
Wood”.
The rest of the novel is where Toru recounts all that occurred
during this early and altering time in his life. It all begins when Toru’s best
friend, Kizuki, commits suicide when he is 17, which profoundly influences both
Toru and Kizuki’s girlfriend, Naoko. Not feeling as though he has many friends,
Toru soon begins studying at University in Tokyo, leading a reasonably isolated
existence there. One day, he happens upon Naoko, and the two begin walking
together throughout the city. Over time, Toru develops feelings for Naoko, yet
she seems hesitant to reciprocate them. Eventually, on Naoko’s 20th
birthday, the two end up sleeping together, in a moment of deep vulnerability
on the part of Naoko. Soon after, and due to some evident emotional issues that
need to be worked out, Naoko quits college and goes to a sanatorium.
While Naoko is gone from Toru’s life, he meets a young woman
named Midori, who is almost the complete opposite of shy and self-conscious
Naoko. The two have strange interactions, but come to care for one another, in
a strange relationship that almost hovers between the realm of friendship and “relationship”.
Meanwhile, Toru and Naoko have been exchanging letters, and Toru eventually
decides to meet Naoko at her sanatorium. He meets both Naoko, and her new
confidante, Reiko. While the three are together, they begin to share deep and
personal things with one another. Reiko seems to believe that Naoko could be on
her way to a full recovery from her mental afflictions.
Toru continues his young life, torn between his real world
featuring his relationship with Midori, and with his other life that revolves
around Naoko. He wants to keep holding on for Naoko and wait for her to come
back to Tokyo, yet he is uncertain as to what he should do in regards to
Midori, or even his life as a student. A cloud of death and guilt seems to
surround Toru as he tries to find happiness for himself. But at what point does
he need to figure out where he wants to go, or how exactly he is to move on
from his past?
Norwegian Wood is
quite soft and beautiful, in a way, particularly in the manner in which it
addresses mental illness as a legitimate problem in many lives, as well as the
fact that it can be dealt with in many different ways. The confusion and
uncertainty about life that is experienced particularly at a young age also
resonated with me, being in my early twenties myself. And yet, Toru’s
insistence to keep himself isolated and disconnected from the world,
particularly when people were reaching out to him (such as the
manic-pixie-dreamgirl-ish Midori) left me saddened and wondering what was
holding him back; was it really just his love for Naoko, which was founded on their
connected loss of Kizuki? Death does have a profound impact on the living,
which is another concept that was strongly addressed by this novel.
But did I like it? I think I did. Not all stories need big,
dramatic acts and storylines. Many times, it is the simple, everyday issues of
people’s lives that make for the most touching and interesting tales, with all
the ins and outs of the human character. And for that reason, I enjoyed Norwegian Wood, though it may not have
been quite what I expected (though to be honest, I’m not really sure what I
expected when I began reading it, anymore).
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