Norweigian Wood

Haruki Murakami

A dreamy novel that slowly grows on you, written with a masterful hand by a Japanese author. It took me a bit to get into it but as each page went by I found myself totally enjoying this book of Japanese youth in the late 1960’s. It tells of the romance and idealism of that period of life. I was struck by how the Japanese experience closely parallels our own during these turbulent times. Very sensuous and fulfilling, this is a sad and tragic story yet ultimately optimistic. Norwegian Wood is a sexual, lovely portrait of a time and place with vividly realized characters. The main character has fallen in love with 2 women ... one trapped in her mind… living in a half way house both physically and emotionally and the other a vivacious funny college student who seems to have her mind a lot on sex. His emotional and moral struggles find us bonded to his plight and saddened when the book reaches its conclusion. If you like fiction that is soft as summer evening rain, you will enjoy this story. It is truly an artful piece of work by a master story teller. What the writer has accomplished does not register fully till the last joyous paragraph is read and some time has elapsed. Norwegian Wood has sold millions of copies in Japan.

Review by Tony Kainauskas