Summer novels are usually advertised and associated with words such as "fun," "light," "classic," and "bestseller." Though the weather is often in sync with these choices, it can prove refreshing to throw in the occasional foreign or slightly heavier novel. I don't like to include more than one Russian author on my summer reading list, so having disposed of Gogol, I chose Haruki Murakami's "Norwegian Wood."
As a Beatles aficionado, I was intrigued by the title immediately and Murakami did not let me down. The melody of "Norwegian Wood" pulls the reader back into Watanabe's recollections of his college years, and it subsequently serves as a haunting backdrop for the twists of fate in the protagonists' lives. It is hard not to fall beneath the spell of this story. As in the song of the same title, "Norwegian Wood" is about love.
Toru Watanabe is a Japanese student attending university with no particular interest in his classes. He is also the only friend of Naoko-the girlfriend of his friend, Kizuki, who committed suicide.
Watanabe's relationship with Naoko, as well as his relationships with women, is woven from the pliable strands of loneliness, love and the complexities of existence. Watanabe the narrator has some 20 years of distance between him and the events that he recounts, but it is evident that the impact of these relationships lingers.
Murakami develops remarkable characters that live in a solitary manner. They are not hermits but they do not force themselves on the world. It is not a result of sloth or apathy, but is a distinctly different sort of character development than what one might typically find in another novel.
The lives of Watanabe, Midori, Naoko and Reiko may be less social than many of their literary contemporaries, but their interactions with the world are never casual. The results are sometimes tragic and often exquisite.
The book is funny, puzzling, illuminating, poignant and ultimately far from melancholic. Murakami deftly writes about the pressing weight of existence without overt sentimentality. The actions of his characters are deliberate and sometimes mystifying in their precise decisions to kiss or cook or take their own lives. The lovemaking and life taking that unfolds across the pages of the book are events handled with incredible honesty.
Murakami does not mince his words and there is nothing superfluous about the quality of the information he provides. This book speaks to the confusion that comes with the discovery that the world you live in may not know you or love you back, but the people in it can.
There's no better time than the present for this book. College is certainly about loneliness, confusing attractions, and darkness (we are in Maine), but it's also about parties, new experiences, and tests. If "Norwegian Wood" doesn't make it off the shelf this year, pack it for the beach next summer.