Norwegian Wood is the book that propelled Japanese writer Haruki Murakami to overnight super stardom, and sure enough I can see why the book has its enduring appeal especially to the young. After all even the Ulysses appealed to a certain segment of the population purely for Molly Bloom’s soliloquy if you get my drift. The book spans a whole lot of issues from mental illness, suicide to the obsession of the young with sex and alcohol, all set in the '60s Japan with the student strikes as the backdrop. Just like the Beatles song which has the ability to tug at your heartstrings, the novel which is inspired by the song does the same.
The hero Watanabe is torn between the love for two women who are in contrast with each other. One the terrific beauty but mentally disturbed and therefore almost unattainable Naoko, and the other the lively, outgoing and confident Midori. One finds Watanabe an unlikely hero in this novel. He is extraordinarily ordinary and is always caught between two extremes, whether people, places or situations. Lives in the dirtiest of men's dorms with the cleanest of roomates, is at ease in the all-night clubs of Shinjuku or in the desolate, idyllic mountains, is caught between the promiscuous yet charming Nagasawa and his kind and complex girlfriend Hatsumi.
When Naoko's boyfriend (and Watanabe's closest friend) Kizuki commits suicide on his 17th birthday for no apparent reason, their lives are permanently altered, so much so when Naoko and Watanabe bump into each other in Tokyo, Kizuki is ever-present but is hardly spoken about. Their feelings for each other is never revealed until the night of Naoko's 20th birthday when both are extremely vulnerable. Naoko unable to handle her new relationship with Watanabe checks herself into a sanatorium in the mountains to deal with all her inner demons. Watanabe copes with his loss and patiently waits for Naoko who never returns as she ends up committing suicide.
During this entire time Watanabe leans heavily on Midori but at the same time ignores her needs, until he spends a night with Reiko (Naoko's friend) from the sanatorium. Reiko advices him that it is time for him to seize happiness and live a full life on behalf of Naoko and all the others in his life. She also helps him realize that Midori is the most important person in his life. Will Midori accept him back? That is left unanswered.
I just simply couldn't put the book down. The characters were very well defined and etched skilfully. While many pages were extremely morbid and gloomy, like the extremes that the hero lives in, there were many other pages that were funny and even raunchy! After all it is the '60s and we are talking of 17 to 20 year olds here. Some of the language in the book was just plain poetry, and even as a simple love story this would have worked just on the strength of the language. But this is much more than a love triangle. It is a lot more complex and the emotional upheaval of adolescence dealing with love and loss and coming of age in such turbulent times is beautifully told.
As someone who went through a very peaceful and very easy adolescence I couldn't fathom how much the characters in the novel had to go through. There are no safe havens. There is no mention of a home or a family one can lean on, except for Midori. There are only institutions, Schools, Sanatoriums, Hospitals, Dorms, Universities. Even the dorms look like prison walls, and there is death everywhere.
This is certainly a love story, but most certainly not a fairy tale romance. I recommend the book to anyone who doesn't mind a fair amount of realism and a dose of pessimism as at one point Murakami says life is inherently unfair and "no truth can cure the sadness we feel from losing a loved one. No truth, no sincerity, no strength, no kindness, can cure that sorrow. All we can do is see that sadness through to the end and learn something from it, but what we learn will be no help in facing the next sadness that comes to us without warning"
