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Liked It2 of 2 members found this review helpful “Synopsis: Boy meets girl. Boy commits suicide. Boy’s best friend falls in love with girl. Girl loses grasp on reality. Boy meets another girl. Metaphysical angst ensues. |
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“This is one of those books that is hard for me to describe how I felt about it. I enjoyed the story, and felt very strongly for the characters themselves. The author has a beautiful style and certainly captures the attention and emotions.
Alantie wrote this review yesterday. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
However, there were things I felt the story could have done without. Most of this might have been the fact that I'm not used to reading from a male perspective, which is certainly different from a female view. I was also frustrated with the lack of any real conclusion to the story- life isn't always with a resolution or neatly wrapped up ending, and I didn't expect that. I thought thought that there would be some sort of solution to at least one problem, but there wasn't really.
It's certainly not a bad read, but it did leave me feeling very frustrated.”
“Hrmmm. Not the best Murakami book, but I love everything of his ;D”
Joyce H. Wu wrote this review 2 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Beautiful, lyrical, sensual. ”
Thomas French wrote this review 3 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
““Which is why I’m writing this book. To think. To understand. It just happens to be the way I’m made. I have to write things down to feel I fully comprehend them.” ~ Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami
Laala K wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Norwegian Wood was one of those books — you know the kind, that someone tells you to read, then someone else, then you read a review and suddenly you’re very aware that you haven’t read it. Sometimes those books are the ones it takes us longest to read (like me and Moby Dick, for instance).
The book follows the protagonist, Toru Watanabe, in a long flashback to his days as a university student, and the two main women in his life, Naoko, an emotionally troubled, beautiful girl, and Midori, who is lively and forward. It is beautifully written the complexities of life make it onto the page. Very few things are fully explained and the events come barreling at you, but that’s what makes the book feel so real and vivid. Murakami has the power to make you feel as if he is writing about a real person, real lives, the answers to which have not yet become apparent, and thus, how can he grant them to us?
I’d definitely suggest reading this book. A personal recommendation would be, as well, when you’re reading the parts where Toru is talking about listening to the song Norwegian Wood (by the Beatles, of course), actually put the music on. Listen to it on repeat while you read the words. I promise it’ll heighten the experience.”
“In 1987, when Norwegian Wood was first published in Japan, it promptly sold more than 4 million copies and transformed Haruki Murakami into a pop-culture icon. The horrified author fled his native land for Europe and the United States, returning only in 1995, by which time the celebrity spotlight had found some fresher targets. And now he's finally authorized a translation for the English-speaking audience, turning to the estimable Jay Rubin, who did a fine job with his big-canvas production The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Readers of Murakami's later work will discover an affecting if atypical novel, and while the author himself has denied the book's autobiographical import--"If I had simply written the literal truth of my own life, the novel would have been no more than fifteen pages long"--it's hard not to read as at least a partial portrait of the artist as a young man.
North Shore Country Day School English-10 wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Norwegian Wood is a simple coming-of-age tale, primarily set in 1969-70, when the author was attending university. The political upheavals and student strikes of the period form the novel's backdrop. But the focus here is the young Watanabe's love affairs, and the pain and pleasure and attendant losses of growing up. The collapse of a romance (and this is one among many!) leaves him in a metaphysical shambles:
I read Naoko's letter again and again, and each time I read it I would be filled with the same unbearable sadness I used to feel whenever Naoko stared into my eyes. I had no way to deal with it, no place I could take it to or hide it away. Like the wind passing over my body, it had neither shape nor weight, nor could I wrap myself in it.
This account of a young man's sentimental education sometimes reads like a cross between Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Stephen Vizinczey's In Praise of Older Women. It is less complex and perhaps ultimately less satisfying than Murakami's other, more allegorical work. Still, Norwegian Wood captures the huge expectation of youth--and of this particular time in history--for the future and for the place of love in it. It is also a work saturated with sadness, an emotion that can sometimes cripple a novel but which here merely underscores its youthful poignancy. --Mark Thwaite”
“After enjoying Murakami's autobiographical book about running I was keen to read one of his novels. A Japanese friend told me that this was his 'most famous' book so I started on it having no idea what to expect. It turned out that sex, depression and suicide are the main topics in the story - probably not my usual combination of subject matter (!). Not surprisingly, it is quite depressing throughout but does offer glimmers of hope for a happier future at the end. However, despite being depressing, the style of writing really draws you in and in very few other books have I felt quite so familiar with the characters and the settings. Overall, a beautiful book but...depressing!”
Sally O wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Chosen by Mike
Stirling Book Group wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Still being read”
“wonderfully written book. What surprises me most about Murakami is how simply he tells his story and how much time he takes with his characters. Most characters in this book are extremely quirky and yet, the way Murakami tells it, they seem very real and natural.
Kamini Gupta Kinger wrote this review Thursday, December 3 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Lovely, honest story-telling.”
“More than a powerful sweet love story...
Nanuc O wrote this review Sunday, November 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Letters are just pieces of paper. , I said. " Burn them, and what stays in your heart will stay; keep them, and what vanishes will vanish." ”
