Book Review| Norwegian Wood

Author Name: Haruki Murakami

Description:

Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.

A poignant story of one college student's romantic coming-of-age, Norwegian Wood takes us to that distant place of a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love.

My Review:

Toru and Naoko's journey or I can say struggle seemed very difficult to read at an earlier stage.

What I liked: This book is very dark and upsetting. It makes you feel sad and it will steal away a part of you but you will still feel better in the end. I remember sobbing a little and then when I saw the ray of light at the end...that was it.

It is well structured, beautifully written and is musical.

The darkness all around will make you feel sad and empty but the fact is, you still know how beautiful the darkness is.

This book is about life and death, light and darkness.

Just after reading a few pages, tears started slipping away and I had to stop reading for an hour or so.

It is also very thought provoking.

Murakami in his own word says that he wanted to write a, "Straight, simple novel". But trust me it will hit you. It will hit you hard.

You will find long detailed passages describing landscapes but the important thing is that it still feels like a dream.

What I didn't like: Too much of oral sex scenes and Midori's fascination with pornography. Also way too many suicides in just one book which left me empty for obvious reasons. I don't recommend this book to young readers.

Overall a good read.

Ratings: 4/5