Norwegian Wood - Books (Haruki Murakami, Paperback)

For full product details, view this product on Amazon.

Customer Reviews of Norwegian Wood

jnw28
London
10th December 2008

a great read
the first book I've read by this author, and won't be the last! beautifully written and poetic, the characters draw you in and you wont be able to put the book down. definitely recommended.

.ziggystardust.
Edinburgh
12th October 2008

I'M HOOKED!!!
The first of his novels I ever read. All I can say is it certainly left an impression. I am now a Murakami addict. A difficult novel to put into words, you'll just have to read it yourself.

Daniel Bor
Cambridge, UK
27th September 2008

Incredibly readable, brilliantly paced tragic love story
Incredibly readable coming-of age story about a loner student and the two very different women he falls in love with. The novel is filled with incredibly vivid characters, a brilliantly paced plot, wonderful observations about life, and some fantastic creative, somewhat outlandish stylistic metaphors. I think it was one of those novels that just perfectly succeeds in its aims of capturing a time and set of characters, even if - on the surface - it might seem to be a somewhat trivial topic. The only partial flaws for me were: the sheer frequency of suicidal people, which at times made it feel like a manipulative soap opera; and I also sometimes didn't fully believe in the narrator's character. I found his movement from tramp to normally jovial person at the end when Reiko comes to visit jarring and unbelievable. But tiny problems amidst a sparkling piece of writing. (Oh, and this "deluxe" 2 volume set fell apart rather easily due to shoddy binding - pretty annoying and not worth the extra money spent).

Andres C. Salama
Buenos Aires, Argentina
23rd September 2008

Great Murakami
This is the third book by Haruki Murakami I read (after Sputnik and South of the Border) and the best so far. Originally written in 1987, the book begins in an airport in Germany, as the titular song by the Beatles playing in the sound system makes middle age Toru Watanabe remember his life as a college student in the late 1960s. As a drama student living in a pension in Tokyo he has to chose between the love of the unstable Naoko (a friend from high school, girlfriend of a friend of Watanabe that commited suicide, and who now lives in a sort of asylum in rural Japan) and the increasing approaches of his college classmate Midori. Meanwhile, he makes two friends: the nerdy, cleanliness obsessed, geography student nicknamed "Storm Trooper" and the ladies man Nagasawa, an amoral student who plans to enter Japan's diplomatic corps. A great book about remembrances, love and the joy and occasional sadness of young life. Perhaps not for the prurrient, since, as in other books by Murakami, explicit sex often punctuates the story.

Mrs. S. Payne
UK
3rd September 2008

A Fantastic Read
Like many others on here, this was my first stab at Japanese fiction but I was drawn into the story right from the beginning.
This is essentially a very sad love story. I am not normally a love story person but the character of Toru Watanabe is fascinating. He drinks, smokes and has casual sex but he is also intelligent, charming (without meaning to be) and very sensitive. He is great with words and fantastic at communicating not only what he thinks and feels but also what others are thinking and feeling. Watanabe is a complex and confused character; he makes mistakes, treats people badly and does not always understand his own reactions to situations.
The other characters in the book are just as important as Watanabe and I especially loved the scenes with Reiko. Storm Trooper added some humour and the scenes in the hospital with Midori's dying father were so tender.
The story is simply 'boy loves girl but another girl loves boy', which makes the plot sound awful but it's not. It also paints a good picture of student life in Japan in the 60's.
Overall, a beautiful, dreamlike story which is very honest and touching. I'm now going in search for other Haruki Murakami books.