norwegain wood

Age recommendation: +16

norwegain wood

Book review

Summary

Author

Characters

Quotes

Theme

Curiosities

Theme

Norwegian Wood is a modern literary depiction of depression, suicide and the sense of grief born from loss. Although the novel deals with heavy themes, it leaves us with a positive message: even though we may be lost, we can continue to live as long as we try.

No truth, no sincerity, no strength, no kindness can cure that sorrow. All we can do is see it through to the end and learn something from it, but what we learn will be no help in facing the next sorrow that comes to us without warning.

Author

Haruki Muraka

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan.

Summary

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami is a story set in late-1960s Japan, detailing the romantic exploits of Toru Watanabe, in particular his relationship with two women, Naoko and Midori Kobayashi. Each of the three characters has experienced intense loss and grief, and each have their own methods of coping.

What is this book symbolizing?

Fun Fact

From the title of the novel, inspired by a Beatles song, to the quiet mountain forest where Naoko retreats in an attempt to heal her depression, Norwegian Wood is full of references to forests and woods. Throughout the book, these areas symbolize the dense, shadowy realms of both adolescence and mental illness.

Nagasawa One of Toru’s dormmates and friends in Tokyo. A serious student and an even more serious womanizer, Nagasawa is smooth, slick, and charming. Though he has lofty dreams of a future in the Foreign…

Mr. Kobayashi Midori’s father. By the time Toru meets Mr. Kobayashi, he is in the hospital, dying from a malignant brain tumor. Mr. Kobayashi is quiet, hoarse, and deeply ill—a far cry, Midori says, from the…

Storm Trooper Toru’s roommate in the private dorm he lives in upon first arriving in Tokyo. “Clean-crazy,” stuttering, and obsessed with timeliness, exercise, and regimentation of his routine, Storm Trooper serves as a kind of comic.

HatsumiNagasawa’s girlfriend. A chic, pleasant, mild-mannered young woman, Hatsumi masks her unhappy interior by dressing well and maintaining an air of calm collection. Deep down, however, Hatsumi is full of rage and grief over.

KizukiToru’s best friend and Naoko’s boyfriend, Kizuki, is not an active character in the novel—he is already dead of suicide when it begins, having taken his life during his senior year of high

Characters

Toru Watanabe An aloof, uncertain young man, Toru moves from his hometown of Kobe to Tokyo to study at Waseda University shortly after losing his best friend, Kizuki, to suicide.

Naoko Toru’s primary love interest and a close friend from his youth in Kobe. Naoko is quiet, demure, sensitive, and esoteric. Toru loves spending time with her, even when all they do is walk around.

Midori Kobayashi Toru’s secondary love interest, Midori, is a bright, talkative, adventurous student at Waseda University. A free-spirited drama major who says whatever is on her mind—most of the time, at least—Midori is Naoko’s polar.

Reiko Ishida Naoko’s roommate at the Ami Hostel who becomes both her and Toru’s close friend. A woman in her late thirties whose lifelong battle with depression has caused her to “snap” and lose her.