Book review: Haruki Murakami "Norwegian wood"

 I heard about Norwegian Wood novel and I bought the book from a sale.

I didn't had any expectations about it, I didn't know the subject.

The novel develops slowly, we found out that Toru Watanabe after suicide of his friend Kizumi leave his native town to study in Tokyo 

There he meets Kizumi girlfriend and his crush Naoko.

Afer a failed sexual intercourse, Naoko dissapears and Toru finds her in a sanatorium for mental illnesses, together with a 31 year old woman Reyko.

Toru finds out that in the past Naoko has found her sister hanged.

Obviously the suicide of her boyfriend Kizumi hit her hard, and triggered a delirium and a mental illness that will culminate with Naoko's suicide.

Meanwhile a colleague of Tori, Midori is attracted to him, maybe because his detachment.

Toru seems to be detached and lonely, it has one one friend Nagasawa and one strange room mate. He prefers to do individual sports and to drink,it has one job a guardian in a record store.

He seems to have typical symptoms of a depression in males: loneliness, numbness and alcohol drinking.

Midori has her her own issues: her father is dying of a brain cancer as her mother died few years ago from same disease .

She is hiding this thing from Toru, saying that her father went to Uruguay after her mother death.

Also Toru hids from Midori that his girlfriend is in an sanatorium with mental problems.

This will cause some frictions.

Midori stress with taking care of her father and death if her mother makes her to adopt an attitude of: you only live once. She is provoking Toru with all kind of edgy proposals, to know better the men, she says.

I think she searched in Toru a replacement for her father. Both ger father and Toru didn't show the feelings.

The thirty woman Reyko, is more mature and it reminds Toru, after the death of Naoko that everybody dies and it has a duty regarding the alive ones, regarding Midori.

Toru makes love with Reyko, who becomes a replacement for Naoko, and closes in this way, his relationship  with Naoko. Reyko in Naoko clothes looks like her in Your's eyes 

Toru realises that death is a part of life and rekindles his relationship with Midori.

Some people consider the book a love book, but it is also a book about death and how can react to it:

Getting depressed as Nao

Getting numb and detached as Toru

Enjoying life and every moment as Midori.

Accepting the finitude of our lives as Reyko 

I would recommend to anyone who suffered a loss to read this book.

Post scriptum:

From cultural point of view what was shocking for me it was acceptance of multiple relationships from part of women and high rate of suicide, there are 3 in this book.

I don't know if it something specific to Japan or of that era, but for sure suicide there doesn't have same stigma as in christian countries.