4thace reviewed Norwegian Wood by Jay Rubin
Sad, lyrical, but complex
4 stars
This break-out novel set in late 1960's Japan follows the life of a teenage boy, Toru, his two romantic interests, and the friends they have. Through him we see Toru's friend Naoko before and after the traumatic suicide of her boyfriend in high school, and his classmate Midori as they hang out together around Tokyo. The contrast between the inarticulate Naoko and the ebullient and demanding Midori as female companionship is stark. He cannot understand how either of them work. Toru does not really care about school or work but puts in his time. He goes out with a wealthy student he meets in his dorm to pick up random girls but considers this to be basically meaningless, purely physical. He learns some clues to the behavior of one of the girls when he visits Naoko in the secluded rehabilitation camp she has checked into, but their interactions raise more …
This break-out novel set in late 1960's Japan follows the life of a teenage boy, Toru, his two romantic interests, and the friends they have. Through him we see Toru's friend Naoko before and after the traumatic suicide of her boyfriend in high school, and his classmate Midori as they hang out together around Tokyo. The contrast between the inarticulate Naoko and the ebullient and demanding Midori as female companionship is stark. He cannot understand how either of them work. Toru does not really care about school or work but puts in his time. He goes out with a wealthy student he meets in his dorm to pick up random girls but considers this to be basically meaningless, purely physical. He learns some clues to the behavior of one of the girls when he visits Naoko in the secluded rehabilitation camp she has checked into, but their interactions raise more questions. And at the end of two years, he considers Midori to be his only true friend, but she needs him to break out of his situation before allowing him any closer. There is death lurking in the background of these characters' lives and it comes into play again to devastating consequences. On the last page the author makes a tentative comment suggesting Toru finds a way forward in life, but then we think of the first few pages of this book which were set decades later, and begin to think that not everything can ever be healed. The main characters are difficult people which is to say they are complex, contradictory, sometimes infuriating, which makes for an engaging read.
I have a bunch of this author's other books so I am sure I will want to take a look at some of these to see what themes of his will recur.
