NORWEGIAN WOOD BY HARUKI MURAKAMI

 NORWEGIAN WOOD

BY HARUKI MURAKAMI

I have to write something. I haven't felt like writing something in a long while. How I should begin to explain the flood of emotions that I felt after reading this book, I have no idea. Let alone finish writing this piece. I've got so much to tell. So much to explain. So much to show. I don't know if I'll be doing justice through what I'm going to write. I just know that once I start, it'll be really hard to stop. Fair warning though, I don't think it's gonna be a review or at least I don't feel like I'm writing a review. More like a... recommendation. I'm not going to tell you why you should read it. Rather, I'm gonna proceed with the assumption that you have already decided to read it. 

In a short time this has become something that I think I'll forever cherish. Close to my heart. Timeless. Evergreen. Ever-loved. Some stories are like that. The last story that made me feel so much was Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. The classic-iconic-gothic love story about Catherine and Heathcliff. Don't even get me started on that one. 

Norwegian Wood is a story about death, loss, grief, and loneliness and what they can do to a person. But chiefly it is a story about love. At places it is light. At places it is deep. At places it is sad. At places it is funny even. But the one thing it is from cover to cover is - enchanting. It is remarkable.

Let me start with the lyrics from the Beatles single with the same title:

"

I once had a girl

Or should I say she once had me

She showed me her room

Isn't it good Norwegian wood?

 

She asked me to stay

And she told me to sit anywhere

So I looked around

And I noticed there wasn't a chair

 

I sat on a rug biding my time

Drinking her wine

We talked until two and then she said

"It's time for bed"

 

She told me she worked

In the morning and started to laugh

I told her I didn't

And crawled off to sleep in the bath

 

And when I awoke I was alone

This bird had flown

So I lit a fire

Isn't it good Norwegian wood?

"

Now that I have read this book, every time I listen to this little, lovely, fantastic piece I look back and think about Naoko and Toru (the main characters). I sing along, all the while harbouring a feeling that I can't even possibly begin to explain. Is it a memory of some good time? Is it sorrow? Is it joy? Or is it some newfound experience that I have just discovered within myself? I just sit there contemplating while the world around me goes about its business. My mind wanders to the meadow. To the overwhelming vastness and the ironic emptiness of it. Human mind is strange. There is no meadow. There is no one named Naoko or Toru. Still, I feel it getting me reminiscent about their story as if I was there. As if I was them. In their skin. Watching. Listening. Feeling. That’s how lively this story feels.

Well, reminiscence is how this story actually starts. With a 38 year old Toru Watanabe as the narrator. On board and mid-air on 747 approaching Hamburg airport. A remarkable cover of Norwegian Wood is playing in the cabin which gets him nostalgic, and he's lost in his thoughts. About the people he loved. The people he lost. Experiences he had. Feelings he felt and won't ever feel again. He tells us about his love – Naoko - and takes us to the meadow. He was 20 then. Naoko had told him about the well in that meadow. With no projection above the ground, the well was obscured among the tall grasses. Out of sight, people in the past are said to have come across it and fallen to their unfortunate deaths. But as long as she is with Toru, she'll be safe, she had told him. Because Toru could never fall down that well. It is only later that we come to realize what Naoko had really meant. Naoko had asked him to remember her. "Always". He tells her he'll remember her. "Always".

Toru narrates that Naoko was formerly Kizuki's (Toru's best and only friend) girlfriend. They knew each other since they were kids and really in love with each other. The three of them (Toru, Naoko and Kizuki) hung out frequently and really enjoyed each other's company. Although, Kizuki despite appearing to be the social winner to Toru has some unresolved issues with the same society and one day decides to end his life. From there, both Toru's and Naoko's lives spiral downwards. Toru, having lost his best friend feels lost and difficult sustaining in society. He starts communal living in a dorm for his first year of college. Keeps mostly to himself, socializing only when required. To Naoko on the other hand, the loss of the love of her life hits with such a force from which she is never able to recover. Naoko and Toru - tied together with the loss of their loved one - hang out on occasion. Walking together, arm in arm, around the Tokyo streets. Falling in love. Gradually. Naturally. Unknowingly. They sure do a lot of walking.

Naoko turns 20. On her birthday, Toru and she celebrate and drink and do a lot of talking. One thing leads to another, and they end up making love to each other. Not really sure if it is right, not caring they do it anyway. Naoko reveals that she had been a virgin till that night. Toru then asks her why she never did it with Kizuki. This sets Naoko off, and she breaks down. The night deepens and they fall asleep – on different beds. Later, Toru wakes up to a rainy morning. Naoko with her bare back towards him. He tries several times talking to her, but she doesn't budge. He finally gives up and leaves her apartment leaving a note behind for her to call him when she will have had calmed down.

Naoko decides to have a hiatus. Toru keeps writing her letters to which he doesn't get any response. During this time, Toru meets Midori. Our cute, quirky, and wholesome little Kobayashi (who sure does have tons of scandalous thoughts). The two of them start seeing each other and unbeknownst to them they start developing feelings for each other. Gradually. Naturally. Unknowingly. And then one day, Toru finally receives a letter from Naoko.

The events that take place after this are the very essence of this book so I can't allow myself to reveal the story any further. I've spoiled enough to begin with. But it is resplendently filled with adorable characters, splendid character development, lovely-iconic dialogues, unbridled intimacy which somehow feels natural and never forced, an excellent narration filled with moments that are both heartache and heartfelt, and sometimes even unexpected and the mix of all these are sure to keep you hooked. And the ending. It leaves you thinking. It sure is going to give you hell of a book hangover. Murakami sure deserves all the praise he gets for this magnificent work. So pick it up and devour. And don't forget to tell me - WHAT DO YOU THINK?      

There are some really great lines in this book which I can't help putting here:

(1)

"Life doesn’t require ideals. It requires standards of action."

(2)

"It may well be that we can never fully adapt to our own deformities. Unable to find a place inside ourselves for the very real pain and suffering that these deformities cause, we come here to get away from such things. As long as we are here, we can get by without hurting others or being hurt by them because we know that we are “deformed”." 

(3)

"Our faces were no more than ten inches apart, but she was light years away from me."

(4)

“It must be a wonderful thing to be so sure that you love somebody.”

(5)

"As I told you once before, patience is the most important thing. We have to go on unravelling the jumbled threads one at a time, without losing hope. No matter how hopeless her condition may appear to be, we are bound to find that one loose thread sooner or later. If you’re in pitch blackness, all you can do is sit tight until your eyes get used to the dark."

(6)

"There are people who can open their hearts and people who can't...

What happens when people open their hearts?...

They get better."

 

And my absolute favourite:

(7)

"Midori laughed out loud. “You’re so weird! Nobody talks about Euripides with a dying person they’ve just met!” 

“Well, nobody sits in front of her father’s memorial portrait with her legs spread, either!”

________

P.S.: This book was recommended to me by someone who is really attached to this book. Really attached. And I mean business. Like - "Talk shit about this book and chances of your survival are next to zero" obsessed.