Norwegian Wood

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami is a hauntingly beautiful and enigmatic love story that catapulted the author into literary stardom in Japan and remains his best-selling novel worldwide.

When Toru Watanabe hears his favourite Beatles song, he is instantly transported back to his university days in Tokyo, nearly twenty years prior. The melody brings forth a stream of vivid memories, particularly of his first love, Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend, Kizuki. Toru’s recollections unravel a poignant narrative filled with uneasy friendships, casual sex, passion, loss, and desire. Amid this turbulent period, a spirited and impetuous young woman named Midori enters his life, prompting Toru to confront a poignant choice between the shadows of his past and the promise of his future.

Murakami masterfully intertwines themes of love and loss with the backdrop of 1960s Tokyo, a period charged with student uprisings, free love, and the countercultural revolution. The novel captures the essence of youth, marked by the highs of exuberance and the lows of heart-wrenching sorrow.

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Experience the spellbinding narrative that has touched readers worldwide, evoking emotional depth and the intricate dance between memory and reality.

Critics have lauded Norwegian Wood for its evocative and entertaining qualities. Time Out praises it as “evocative, entertaining, sexy and funny; but then Murakami is one of the best writers around.” The Guardian highlights, “such is the exquisite, gossamer construction of Murakami's writing that everything he chooses to describe trembles with symbolic possibility.” The Independent on Sunday notes, “this book is undeniably hip, full of student uprisings, free love, booze and 1960s pop, it's also genuinely emotionally engaging, and describes the highs of adolescence as well as the lows.”

Murakami’s new book Novelist as a Vocation is available now.

Delve into the rich tapestry of Haruki Murakami’s universe with Norwegian Wood, an unforgettable exploration of youth, love, and the memories that shape us.