The setting is Tokyo, Japan in the late 1960s. Murakami paints a clear view of a technologically booming city with economic power, with mentions of bullet trains and many Western references to novels like The Great Gatsby. Events in the novel such as the student protests against the colleges are somewhat autobiographical to Murakami, although one can never be sure of the amount of truth in an author’s work. In an interview in Metropolis Magazine from 2000, Murakami even states that he took part in some of the revolts but felt little solidarity with his fellow protesters, much the same as Toru in Norwegian Wood.
Although the story is simple and the events throughout come as no surprise to the reader, the page-turning factor is in the beautiful storytelling of 37-year-old Toru Watanabe who hears an orchestral cover of the Beatles’ song “Norwegian Wood” and in a sudden overwhelming rush, he is transported back to his freshman year in college. In this love story, one is allowed to be immersed in the distinct worlds of the two women he falls in love with. The first is Naoko, an introspective woman that Toru meets on the train. They are far from strangers; drawn to each other by the suicide of Toru’s best friend and Naoko’s long-term boyfriend, Kizuki. The second woman is the outspoken, sexually liberated Midori Kobayashi, a girl “like a small animal that has popped into the world with the coming of spring”, and the polar opposite of Naoko. Murakami effortlessly conveys Toru’s inner conflict in waiting for the ever-elusive woman or allowing himself to love the one that has been with him the entire time.
Norwegian Wood is laced with eroticism that is sometimes perverse, yet sometimes sweet. But I find the real treasure of the novel to be in the raw honesty in each of the character’s thoughts and mannerisms. There have been many scenes in the book that I can distinctly remember evoking something within me, either for its beauty or pure wit. The sentences are simple but grabbing, which I suppose should be in thanks to Jay Rubin, who translated the novel from Japanese.
From reading countless reviews around the web, I question whether this was the right Murakami novel to start with. Though Norwegian Wood is certainly beautiful and differs from the typical love story, it’s been heavily criticized for being the anomaly of Murakami’s work. Norwegian Wood is the only one of his novels written in a “realistic style” which Murakami said was intentional, a challenge to see if he could write a 100% realistic novel. One reader commented that “Norwegian Wood is a straight novel for Murakami, unlike his other more surreal works. So if this is your first one you might be in for a slight surprise later.” Having enjoyed this novel greatly, I’ve already ordered another of his novels: Sputnik Sweetheart, which is said to be in the same realm of love stories that Norwegian Wood is in.
After just having finished this book hours before, I struggle to put into words the feeling of being placed inside this stranger’s most favored memories. As you just finish the last pages, you ache for the next few minutes of this strangely corrupt television program. You feel like a voyeur through Toru Watanabe’s thoughts and mannerisms, almost as if you are there beside him in his most intimate moments.
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