Norwegian Wood

The Silence and Sound of Youthful Grief

Norwegian Wood (Noruwei no Mori) is a pivotal novel in the career of Haruki Murakami. Published in 1987, the book marked a deliberate shift in style for the author, moving away from the surrealist, genre-bending narratives of his earlier works towards a more straightforward, emotionally raw, and realistic literary style. This change garnered him massive success in Japan and introduced his work to a broad new international readership. The novel is a melancholic and deeply nostalgic coming-of-age story set in 1960s Tokyo.

A Triangulation of Love and Loss

The story is narrated by Toru Watanabe, a man in his late 30s, who is instantly transported back to his college years by hearing The Beatles' song "Norwegian Wood." The novel chronicles Toru’s time as a university student, a period defined by the weight of death. His emotional life revolves around two complex relationships:

• Naoko: His troubled first love, who is the girlfriend of his best friend, Kizuki, until Kizuki's suicide shatters their world. Naoko is fragile, beautiful, and deeply affected by mental illness, eventually retreating to a remote sanatorium.

• Midori: Toru's vibrant, outspoken, and unconventional classmate who represents life, reality, and the future. Midori’s grounded presence offers a sharp, life-affirming contrast to Naoko’s ethereal sadness.

Toru finds himself constantly pulled between these two women, symbolizing the internal conflict between honoring the past and embracing the future.

Themes of Death, Mental Health, and Nostalgia

Norwegian Wood is a deeply moving exploration of heavy themes:

• The Weight of Death: The novel is saturated with death, focusing not just on the act of suicide but on the profound and lasting impact it has on the survivors. Toru and Naoko's shared grief forms a complicated, intimate bond that makes moving on exceptionally difficult.

• Mental Illness: The book handles the subject of mental health with a tenderness and frankness that was rare in Japanese literature at the time. The isolated sanatorium where Naoko stays becomes a sanctuary from the demands of the "normal" world, highlighting the difficulties of navigating emotional illness.

• The 1960s Backdrop: The setting of Tokyo during the late 1960s student protest movement adds a layer of cultural unrest, mirroring the emotional and moral turbulence experienced by the young characters. This period is painted with a hazy sense of nostalgia, filtered through Toru's later memories.

The book's ultimate question is whether Toru can accept the imperfection of life and choose the messiness of love and future over the comforting, yet paralyzing, embrace of past grief.