A review by thomasdj
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

***Spoilers beyond the opening paragraph***

Norwegian Wood is very effective at portraying it’s main message of ‘to keep living’ showing the dangers of dwelling in the past and trying to assign meaning to those past events. Murakami is also a fabulous writer, able to paint vivid images of 60s/70s Japan with immense variety of quotable, poetic mantras. However, the plot of this novel, along with its depiction of women, leaves a lot to be desired.

The plot is perfectly mediocre, Toru (the protagonist) and Naoko (one of two primary love interests) are in love but their love for each other is limited. This is a result of Kizuki (Naoko’s boyfriend and Toru’s best friend) taking his life at 17. Understandably there is a lot of trauma associated with this, essentially forcing their love to be platonic. When it turns sexual, Naoko feels like she is betraying Kizuki and goes to stay in Hostel to recover from her grief. Instead of allowing Naoko the time and space to recover, Toru goes to visit her and writes to her weekly. This is in spite of the fact that he has met another woman. Midori, the antithesis of Naoko is lively, dramatic and opinionated but Toru continues to ignore their burgeoning love and insists on focussing on Naoko. It’s frustrating to read, even though it’s intentionalas one character says “Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Only arseholes do that.”
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