Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Well here I was thinking that I had absolutely nothing to post about and Nymeth reminded me that I still owed a review for Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. In all honesty, I delayed this one a bit because I didn't think I could do it justice. And I probably still can't, but I'll give it a try. If I would've had time to let this one sink in for a bit before I posted my top 12 list of the year, it probably would've made it on to the list as it was my last read of 2007. It's characters and language haunted my mind and the book is still very fresh in my head...floating about in there somewhere. I've heard many people say this about Murakami, that his books stay with you, and this is no exception.

This is my first experience with Murakami, so I can't compare it to anything else written by him, but from what I understand, it's quite different from many of his other novels. I've heard that there's a bizarre aspect to quite a few of his books that's not so prevalent in this one. This book is mainly a love story and a quite beautiful and tragic one at that. It's set in Tokyo and other parts of Japan in the 60's and follows a young college student by the name of Toru who is in love with Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend who died in an accident a few years back. There relationship begins with silent walks around Japan, both of them recalling thoughts in their own minds of their pasts with their lost friend and their relationship eventually blooms into something more than just a friendship. But a night of intimacy with Toru reveals a tortured side to Naoko and she leaves Tokyo to examine her life and her problems. They exchange letters back and forth leaving Toru unsure of where anything is going between him and Naoko and he isolates himself, retreating even from the one amazing, unique girl that he's met, Midori, who's willing to do anything to be with him.

This is not a happy book, but it's a beautiful book, a serene book. The Japanese have a true gift in their story telling that echoes in aspects of their culture. I always get a sense of peace when I'm reading a Japanese novel or short story and this was no exception. As tragic and lost as these characters seemed at times, I always saw hope for them, always had a vision of calm. This is a book that will definitely pull at your heartstrings and draw you into the characters. Murakami really has a gift for making his characters real. I kept thinking that this must be somewhat autobiographical of his own experiences in the 60's, but the afterword says that it is not at all, that he actually had quite a boring life in the 60's and put nothing of himself in this novel. If that's true, he's extremely perceptive of other people.

It's also been said that this is the most erotic of his novels, and there are quite a few sex scenes in here and they're extremely voyeuristic. This goes back to him making this such a personal book. At first I thought that the dialogue was really awkward during the sex scenes and it was going to be a complaint of mine, but then I realized that what was awkward was just the fact that he was including sexual dialogue where I didn't expect it...it was reality and a real intimate look into these characters lives.

This book was extremely well written and a great introduction to Murakami in my opinion and I'd definitely recommend it as a starting point to anyone else looking to pick something up by him. It's also only 296 pages which is short compared to many of his other books! I think I'll read Kafka on the Shore next...Both Nymeth and Jean Pierre have written great reviews on that one. I just want the British cover! It's so much better than the US one.

And I think I'll finally finish A Clash of Kings today! Yay! And then it's on to First Snow on Fuji which will fulfill my 3 books for Bellezza's Japanese Literature Challenge :) I'm still going to try to read Mishima's Confessions of a Mask though before the end of the month!