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Norwegian Wood (Paperback)

by Haruki Murakami (Author) "I WAS THIRTY-SEVEN THEN, STRAPPED IN MY SEAT AS THE HUGE 747 plunged through dense cloud cover on approach to the Hamburg airport ..." (more)
4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (96 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (17 May 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099448823
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099448822
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (96 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,175 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #4 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > M > Murakami, Haruki
    #74 in  Books > Fiction > By Period > 20th Century

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
"I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me" "Norwegian Wood" (Lennon/McCartney).

With Norwegian Wood Murakami, best known as the author of off-kilter classics such as the Wind Up Bird Chronicle, A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard Boiled Wonderland, finally achieved widespread acclaim in his native Japan. The novel sold upwards of 4 million copies and forced the author to retreat to Europe, fearful of the expectations accompanying his new-found cult status.

The novel is atypical for Murakami: seemingly autobiographical, in the tradition of many Japanese "I" novels, Norwegian Wood is a simple coming of age tale set, primarily, in 1969/70, the time of Murakami's own university years. The political upheavals and student strikes of the period form the backdrop of the novel but the focus here is the young Watanabe's love affairs and the pain (and pleasure) of growing up with all its attendant losses, (self-)obsessions and crises.

The novel is split into two volumes and beautifully presented here in a "gold" box containing both the green book and the red book. Young Japanese fans became so obsessed with the work that they would dress entirely in one or other colour denoting which volume they most identified with. And the novel is hugely affecting, reading like a cross between Plath's Bell Jar and Vizinczey's In Praise of Older Women, if less complex and ultimately less satisfying than Murakami's other, more allegorical, work. He captures the huge expectation of youth, and of this particular time in history, for the future and for the place of love in it. He also saturates the work with sadness, an emotion that can cripple a novel but which here underscores the poignancy of the work's rather thin subject matter. --Mark Thwaite --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
"A masterly novel. . . . Norwegian Wood bears the unmistakable marks of Murakami's hand." -"The New York Times Book Review"
"Norwegian Wood . . . not only points to but manifests the author's genius." -"Chicago Tribune"
"[A] treat . . . Murakami captures the heartbeat of his generation and draws the reader in so completely you mourn when the story is done." -"The Baltimore Sun"
"Vintage Murakami [and] easily the most erotic of [his] novels." -"Los Angeles Times Book Review"

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I WAS THIRTY-SEVEN THEN, STRAPPED IN MY SEAT AS THE HUGE 747 plunged through dense cloud cover on approach to the Hamburg airport. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

96 Reviews
5 star:
 (59)
4 star:
 (16)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (7)
1 star:
 (10)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (96 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Norwegian Wood, 11 Feb 2009
By Mr. J. C. Hull "XBL: Jake3103" (North Wales) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I believe the most important thing about fiction is the creation and build-up of the characters - and there is no finer at doing this than Haruki Murakami. This is essentially a coming of age book depicting Toru Watanabe through his university years - post best friends death. His first love is always on his mind - confused because she was his best friends girlfriend, and lost from his own desires and fears, he befriends a sordid and charismatic fellow dorm resident by the name of Nagasawa, and so he gets tangled up in uneasy friendships formed by casual sex, desire, loss and fear.

It's interesting to read in which Murakami almost writes as if it's not fiction but biographical, and perhaps in some ways it is as I often believe writers include problems and thoughts from their own life in their writing. Murakami is a "realistic" writer who creates characters so wonderfully believable that you feel you are right there talking to them yourself, and the dialogue is so precise and important that it is truly beautiful to read - it flows from the pages to your heart and leaves you feeling both broken and alive. He has a knack for emotional wordplay, and his writing is the kind that can keep your emotions locked up, benign until the flood gates are opened - and so you will be drawn into the lives of these wonderful characters.

A remarkable book from a remarkable writer - the first of which I have read of his work, and most definitely not to be the last. Murakami really must "rank among the world's greatest living novelists".
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Enticed, 28 April 2005
Murakami's 'The Wind-up Bird Chronicle' entranced me and 'Norwegian Wood' has done the same. Murakami describes worlds that seem so normal yet so eccentric.

I was disappointed by the translation of 'Goodbye Tsugumi' by Banana Yoshimoto because it seemed too American for me, but I found the language used here didn't get in the way of my enjoying the story.

I look forward to my next adventure into Murakami's world.

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21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Japanese "Catcher..."?, 24 May 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Norwegian Wood (Panther) (Paperback)
I found that I was drawn to this book by simply reading the back (always a bad thing), but I've never tried reading Japanese fiction before, so I thought I would start here. I wasn't disappointed.


The book opens with Toru Watanabe reflecting on his student days in Tokyo during the 1960's when he hears a musak version of "Norwegian Wood" as he arrives in Germany. His first complicated love affair with Naoko, a girl coping with depression and loss, is at the forefront of his mind. There are plenty of colourful characters in the book such as the fun-loving Midori who always seems to be happy despite the many people she has lost and the pressures that cloud her world.


Toru is definitely a Japanese, post-modern Houlden Caulfield who despite sounding apathetic to his peers and companions, is in fact a loveable self-involved rogue. This was a book I couldn't put down, and I will definitely be picking up some of Murakami's other work.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A sad tale of Hope
Surrounded by death,despair and an obsessive roommate the main character manages to do pretty well out of it all. Read more
Published 1 month ago by P. Salmon

3.0 out of 5 stars I wanted to give it 2 1/2 stars
I got about 3/4 way through & stopped as it was driving me nuts. I did like a few parts of it but it just seemed to drag on, no real plot line. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mink

5.0 out of 5 stars Norwegian Wood
Ah, my first Murakami. The anticipation was great as I opened the book. I had high expectations, yet I had no idea what to expect, and I was afraid that it could only end in... Read more
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Like all the other novels written by Haruki Murakami, 'Nowegian Wood' has fascinated me totally. Read more
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4.0 out of 5 stars Norwegian Woo-ed me.
Excellent and touching story. Read while in Tokyo and got a feel for a era gone by. the complications of young love.
Published 4 months ago by Ms. L. A. Macneil

5.0 out of 5 stars The best coming of age novel I have ever read
The coming of age novel seems to have been a recipe for classic success for so many writers throughout the 20th, and in the case of DBC Pierre, 21st centuries. Read more
Published 5 months ago by J. Ganderson

5.0 out of 5 stars 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. Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars 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. Read more
Published 9 months ago by C. C. Stevenson

4.0 out of 5 stars 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. Read more
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