Norwegian Wood

Back in April I read my first Murakami book (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) and absolutely loved it- I still give it the highest of recommendations. Here's the second, Norwegian Wood, named for the Beatles song that shows up in the novel from time to time. Unlike Wind-Up Bird Chronicle which involves a man exploring his dreams trying to save his faltering marriage (a full seven years before Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind came out), Norwegian Wood doesn't stray into the fantastic- some say it's the most autobiographical of Murakami's works. It's a sad tale of love and loss- a middle aged man reflects upon his freshman year at college in '69-'70 and recalls the two vastly different women he fell in love with- the childhood friend, emotionally troubled Naoko, and the more level-headed but extroverted Midori. The book gave me some heavy Catcher in the Rye vibes- that book itself is referenced more than once, but it certainly never reaches the same level of frustration. The narrator Watanabe frequently questions the actions of society as a whole but never to the point where you want to slap him. Also Murakami focuses his societal critiques not on meaninglessly calling people phonies, but with a specific purpose- pointing out that the student protests of Japan in the sixties were largely unnecessary and hypocritical. Murakami wraps a beautiful love story around this that's nothing revolutionary (a guy can't decide between two women), but his true strength here is in character development. Every time a new character is introduced I get excited because of Murakami's ability to load a book with interesting backstories. While the overarching plot wasn't as interesting to me as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Norwegian Wood was still a pleasure to read and has Haruki Murakami moving up the list of my favorite authors. Expect more soon.