Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (Book Review)

Hello everyone and welcome some more life lessons gleaned from books.

Big thank you to those who kept recommending me Norwegian Wood. Finally, I bought myself a copy to have in my own Murakami collection.

This one was a doozy. Lots of major life themes about primarily, making the choice to "choose good - choose life" and all that it entails - the good and the bad; the great people and the worst people who enter our lives and make it better - or turn it upside down. Ultimately, it's how we choose to look at life that will help us go on our path. The women in this book have been scarred by the men in their lives: some can handle it, others can’t. But, women can also have their own dark sides.

There's strong themes here in this book, death, grief, mental illness, pedophilia, social isolation, depression, PTSD, trauma, sex. Ultimately, it's about life and how the main character who goes through his personal demons to transform into adulthood.

My lesson is that ultimately, everyone is grieving in some way. Everyone is suffering their own trauma in some way. Everyone is dealing with their demons in their own way. Others cannot move or grow from it - others can by using others for their gain, while others accept it as something that happened in their life but which does not define them.

This book reminded me of Anton Checkhov's short story, A Nervous Breakdown where I likened the highly empath character of Vasily in it to Murakami's Naoko. Both characters trying to make sense of the world but at the same time extricating themselves from it because it's too overwhelming for them to understand the actions of others towards females. It also has a heavy influence of my favourite book of all time, The Catcher in the Rye. Toru Watanabe is Vasiley who is Holden Caulfield.

But what’s the connection to The Great Gatsby?! You’ll have to find out because I’m now in the middle of reading that.

Over to you. Have you read this book?

What are some of the life lessons you got out of it?

#reading #books #bookreviews #literature #booktube #lifelessons #lifelessonsthroughbooks #activatelearning #helenblunden #murakami #norwegianwood

[dilyaraarynova]

I love the idea about Midori being a personification of life, because I also remember her saying to Toru "if you would want this, I am here, breathing and alive girl who is full of blood" or something like this. While thinking about this whole I love Naoko but I also love Midori later, Toru also recalls this words of her. I think in many ways it is a contrast with Naoko. And the cover! I didn't realized it but it's really beautiful. Thank you for your review!

[isouj]

I finished reading the book last night and the feelings that i derived from the book are still with me. This is the most uncomfortable yet comforting book for me. The cover decoding by you is amazing!! I too thought it was some forest and trees.

[hailanlguerd]

have read many books and encountered many characters ; Midori is my best of the best character of all time.

[TheDareelliltee]

I imagined Nagasawa as Willem Defoe and not once did he ever say or do anything that broke character

[matthiaskenton]

just finished reading @20yrs and its just such a good book. Didn't know a human could convey feelings through words like that before.

[GaggingLit]

Loved this review of Norwegian Wood. Love this book!

[ЧепкоВероника]

Thank you for such a perfect review! It was a pleasure to listen to you ❤ My first Murakami’s book and it wasn’t so touching but the way the main character goes through his growing is so amazing, you can meet different people in your life and it takes time to recognize how they influence you! Midori is a character who makes you see life as it is, sometimes sorrowful sometimes full of joy 🫶

[melo_.]

I loved your review and found more than i expected -so thank you. 🙏🏽
Besides the aspects you mentioned, as a person addicted to nostalgia, what made the book especially impressive for me was the deep sense of nostalgia it evoked. First of all, vatanebe tells the story at the age of 37, so inevitably everything told in the book has the feature of memory. Like the moments which vatanebe, naoko and reiko just sit, chat and sing together... They create such a feeling of deep nostalgia in addition to the sense of peace. Or saying types of expression like "it was the last time i saw him/her" and "rest of his/her life they did...". They hit me so hard because they are all relatable moments. Thus when you finish the book, they all stay as a memory like you have experienced yourself.
"And when I awoke, I was alone. This bird had flown."
Stay well 🙏🏽

[thomasmcculloch]

I loved the review and the mention of of The Nervous Breakdown, which I will read. I think as a 20 something hearing the breakdown of the book from someone who’s lived it really helps me grasp the concepts present better. I will definitely check out more of your reveiws to find more books

[anthonyrosa.]

Just finished it and this is the best review I could find! Congrats and thank you👏🙏

[kimominton]

Wonderful review of one of my favorites. Thank you for your insight.

[joules]

Wow, the book cover is fantastic now that you pointed it out! Also, such a great review and discussion. This book weirded me out especially with the scene of the 13 year old girl. Yet, I liked this book a lot as I have resonated with it as also someone struggling with mental health. I give it a 4.25 stars.

[readwithjerrod]

Hello Helen, I very much appreciate what you are doing with your page. I am attempting something similar with my own page, and it is inspiring that you showcase a love of reading and learning! My thoughts were that I love reading, and I have too many books as it is, what the heck let's read them together! Thanks for sharing!

[tangerinc]

Your review is amazing, I haven't noticed the cover had 3 pairs of legs until you mentioned, always thought they were trees too, it makes a good summary of the book.

[artflowerslofi]

If you read this, that means we share the same interest in books.

[williambrazil]

You'll be right, that phrase brought me back to my time in the southern hemisphere

[jacquelinerondeau]

I like her psychological life lessons approach. to help digest this book and its characters.

[eternity]

It was an okayish book, but i do feel like Murakami definitely has some fantasies he lives out in his books. Some scenes (esp where he was describing the 13 year old) were uncomfortable and uncalled for.

[DefaultName-nttk]

Such a passionate and amazing review! I loved how you discovered the similarities between those other 2 books. I read The Men Without Women by Murakami - a short story collection that is also made into a movie titled Drive My Car. You might be interested in checking it out if you have not done yet.

[Chae-hl]

I lover this book. While i was reading i could feel myself relate to a lot of things, as i’m myself but a 16 year ol teenager figuring out life, and i could find myself relating to a lot of characters, but the two that really stuck with me are Hatsumi and Midori. Hatsumi because of the description Toru gave about her, even though her presence was a only in a few short pages in which after she died a very sad death, yet something about her character felt very real to me. Meanwhile Midori was everything i wanted to be when i get to college, she is the definition of life as you said, a contrast to Toru, and to me dare i say, i loved reading their conversations a lot, everytime she’d say “watanabe you want to know what i’l thinking right now?” I’d just tear up laughing. Yet, in the very final 30 pages, i was astonished. The death of Naoko hit me hard especially the way Murakami brought it up in the book it was very sudden. The last 30 pages made me see the entire book in a different lighting somehow, it’s like i just realised how dark it was and how messed up every character was. And i couldn’t help but wonder how Midori was through out the disappearence of Toru and stuff. Great analogy, it made me understand the book in a better light, thank you so much my brain had turned off after finishing the book 😂