Norwegian Wood

I am a brand new Haruki Murakami’s fan and having read Kafka on the Shore as my first novel written by him, I found myself gripped under the surreal and unimaginable experience his writing provided to me as a reader. And that intrigued me to read another of his famous novels, Norwegian Wood. Before reviewing or rather I would say giving my naïve opinion on this book, I better start with my assumptions w.r.t this book.

When we read someone like him, we start expecting something new and better every time we read more of their works but along the process we tend to forget that there are very few writers in this world who challenge themselves to tread a different path and walking upon it too and that’s exactly Murakami did with this novel, whose popularity surprised him also.

So, it’s not exactly a Love story in the eyes of many, but someone like me who has accepted and marveled at the different kinds of love that exists in this world, it definitely is one and a beautiful one at that. It’s a love story with a pragmatic and realistic view on human emotions. But again, there are several other things murakami surfaced along with love, like rain and how it symbolizes sadness (IMO), like Death and quoting here: “Death exists, not as the opposite but as the part of life,” but in this book, Death exists as a part of this Book. It’s a character in itself and needs to be understood not in a negative sense of death because it’s simply not, quoting again: “I’m getting rid of anything from the past so I can be reborn in the future.”

Why one would hate this book, there can be many reasons but to love this book, one need to put themselves in shoes of Toru, Naoko, Midori, Reiko, Hatsumi, Nagasawa and Kizuki (who started it all). And then one can understand its true essence to cherish the two basic treasures of humans: Love & Life.

P.S. I have imported this review of mine from Goodreads.

I got introduced to Haruki through a friend of mine who absolutely swears by his books. Norwegian Wood is the second book that i read of this author. Savoured this book lil by lil so as not to finish it too soon. But the final part of the book was the best one. At the end of the book, I felt like I have experienced "life" in its entirety through this book. The various fallacies of human nature, the contradictions that are constant in our minds are brilliantly portrayed in this book. Though what you get out of this book is entirely personal and relative and depends how you can relate to your experiences in life.
Reading such a novel is an experience that no one should deny oneself.

This is how goes starting lines of "Norwegian Wood" .This is my first Murakami book......and boy did I loved it!!! The fact that "Norwegian Wood" is also one of my favorite song made it icing on the cake.
Sometimes you may wonder why people read such type of stuff but then I know the answer if not these type of books then which ones we will read? Absolutely a must read for all especially young males this book catches all the emotions of young and restless mind.I can't wait to read all other Murakami's Work!!!

i started reading this book , after a few pages i stopped reading,
instead , ended up living the book.

the protagonist's character is one which everyone could relate to.
the varying degrees to which the three main characters , take life seriously , is beautifully etched.

the magical metaphors used , metamorphose into stunning and seductive scenes in your mind.
there's something in this book for everyone and everything in this book makes you think of that special someone !

This is one of Murakami's best works. It was profoundly deep and touching. I could relate to every emotion described, and the feelings of every character was intense.
There was the usual Murakami's Metophoric touch to it. The book leaves you with lingering thoughts which just becomes a part of you.

A must read!