Information of the Book
Haruki Murakami's 5th long novel was originally published in 1987 by Japanese. His first romance novel, but this novel is an unusual romance novel.
Original Japanese edition of this novel is cosist of 2 volumes. And, the book covers designed by Murakami himself. Volume one, the ground is painted by red and the title is wrote by green characters (the Christmas colours). On the contrary volume two is green ground and red characters. This design may mean Murakami’s two world theory (the world of live and loss of life), or from Kizuki through Naoko to Midori (red is Kizuki’s colour, paper’s white is Naoko’s colour and the Japanese word Midori means green).
Form, Style & Structure
11 chapters long novel. The description is a reminiscence of a man, Toru Watanabe from 20 years later, and it is not chronicle.
Background of the Work & Author
This novel is based on Murakami’s short novel Firefly published in 1983. The chapter 2 and 3 of Norwegian Wood is the almost same to it.
I think this novel is the background and alternative story of Hear the Wind Sing and the Trilogy of the Rat. The two novels describes the same era and might be written by Murakami’s same experience. The world of Nowegian Wood is the dark side of the era in a fierce and brutal capital city, Tokyo. It of Hear the Wind Sing is the bright side in a harbour town, Kobe. But the narrater is not same character, and the worlds of the two novels are parallel worlds.
This novel describes the era of the late 60’s student activism movement, but it published in 1987, (the rise or peak of) the Japanese asset price bubble era.
Characters
Toru Watanabe – Narrator of this novel. A student of a private university in Tokyo studied drama (just read scripts and do research), is from Kobe, Hyogo.
Naoko – A student of a girls’ college on the rural western edge of Tokyo, studied English and a girlfriend of Toru. (She must be a student of Tsudajuku University, Kodaira.) An 10,000 runner at high school. Lived in a tiny flat in Kokubunji. And she was Kizuki’s girlfriend, and Toru first met Naoko at the second grade year of a high school. (It seems the same character of the third girl in Hear the Wind Sing and Naoko in Pinball, 1973.)
Midori Kobayashi – Toru’s classmate of the private university and daughter of a small bookshop, Kobayashi Bookshop in Toshima, had an extremely short hair or a pixie cut and always wore dark sunglasses suits her. During summer holidays she had her hair permed, but it looked like a “seaweed stuck”. So she had her hair cut extremely short. Against for her name, she don’t suit green clothes (Midori in Japanese means the colour green, and the Nature and plants). Toru felt a fresh and physical life force and an independent organism from her. She always wore a dark sunglasses because very short hair is defenceless and naked. (4 -)
Kizuki – The best and only friend of Toru, and the boyfriend of Naoko. Kizuki and Naoko had been together and had close family relationship from their childhood. At May, 1967, after cut the afternoon classes and played billiards with Toru, at the night he suddenly passed away by using gas of his car, at 17 years-old. (2)
Reiko-san (Doctor Ishida) – A music teacher or a music therapist also a patient of Ami Hospital and the room-mate of Naoko. A not only nice woman 38 years old. She had been there for seven years, she had no family, friends and home to come back. (6 -)
Nagasawa-san – A resident of the private dormitory, a son of a wealthy family run a big hospital in Nagoya and a student of the prestigious Tokyo University studies law, aimed become a diplomat. And he was a national top class fast track runner. A playboy went girl-haunting many times and slept with more than 70 girls. (3 -)
Hatsumi-san – Nagasawa’s steady girlfriend was a student of the absolute top girls’ college in the country. Toru thought she is quiet, intelligent and caring but so ordinary girl for Nagasawa. (3 -)
Storm Trooper – A room-mate of Toru in a private dormitory, two years older than Toru. A too serious and punctual and a student studied geography at a national university, wanted to work for the Geographical Survey Institute and make maps. In September 1970, he didn’t return to the dormitory from summer holidays and moved. (2 – 3)
Sir Nakano – A superintendent of the private dormitory. A right winger, there is a rumour that he was graduated the war time Nakano spy school. (2)
Uniform – A typical right-wing student always wore students’ uniform, was next to Sir Nakano everyday when he did the routine ceremony raised the Rising Sun flag with the Japanese anthem. (2)
German stewardess (1)
Momoko – A sister of Midori, suits pink clothes. Momo in Japanese means peach and pink colour. (4)
Two student activists (4)
Greek tragedy professor (4)
Midori’s mother – She dead two years ago by cancer. (4)
Midori’s father – He went off to Uruguay to help a farm of his old army buddy. (4)
Two girls Toru met in Shinjuku – Two girl were well dressed and made don’t match the midnight in Shinjuku, shared a table with Toru in an all-night café. (4)
Reiko’s pupil girl (6)
Reiko’s ex-husband – An engineer of an aeroplane manufacturing company and was pupil of Reiko’s piano lesson. (6)
Girl of a café (6)
Reiko’s piano lesson pupil girl (6)
Midori’s Father (7)
Owner of the house (10)
Kamome (10 – 11)
Ito – A co-worker of the Italian restaurant and an art collage student. (10)
Locations
Hamburg (1)
Yotsuya (2, 4) – Toru Naoko came across at the Chuo commuter line and got off at Yotsuya. Midori led Toru to a fancy boxed-lunch speciality shop in Yotsuya.
Tokyo – The capital and the largest city of Japan places Kanto (eastern area) region.
Kobe – The home town of Toru, Naoko and Kizuki. A harbour city of Kansai (western area) region, next to Osaka and Kyoto.
Kokubunji – A western suburb town of Tokyo.
Shibuya – A large cultural, commercial and business district and a main transfer station in Tokyo, is equal to Shinjuku and Ikebukuro. It developed rapidly in 1980’s.
Shinjuku – The largest cultural, commercial and business district in Tokyo, especially between 1960’s to 70’s. A symbol of Nagasawa and his practicalism and greed.
Kyoto – An ancient capital of Japan, a cultural and academic center of Kansai region, and places next to Kobe and Osaka.
Toshima – A north-west suburb of Tokyo, in which Ikebukuro, one of main transfer stations, and the third cultural, commercial and business district in Tokyo places. Toshima and Ikebukuro were a main transfer and commercial district also an old residential area, so they are a symbol of Midori.
Kichijoji (10 – 11)
Ueno (7, 11)
Places
Hamburg Airport (1)
Private dormitory (Central Tokyo) – A private’s dormitory run by right wingers, in which Toru, Nagasawa and Storm Trooper lived.
Ami Hospital (Kyoto) – A psychiatry sanatorium or hospital is in the hills outside Kyoto, Naoko entered. There is not a profit-making enterprise, a community like commune, performs the natural and voluntary therapy with spending a quiet and sufficient life helps patiences to naturally recover from mental illnesse. (3 -)
Kobayashi Bookshop (Toshima, Tokyo) – A small and old bookshop of Midori’s family places in Kita-Otsuka, Toshima near Otsuka station. (4)
Café on a mountain (6)
DUG – A famous jazz café in Shinjuku. (7, 9)
An elegant restaurant in Azabu (8)
An apartment in Myogadani (10 -)
A house in the outskirts of Kichijoji (10 – 11)
Casual Italian restaurant (10 -)
Key Elements
Beatles’ song Norwegian Wood – Naoko’s favorite song. She requested the song for Reiko, the Reiko took a porcelain beckoning cat coin bank and Naoko put a JPY 100 coin to the bank, it’s a rule between them. But Naoko said the song make her feel so sad and alone in the dark, and she thought nobody comes to save her. (6) Toru remenbered the memories of 20 years ago by a sweet orchestral cover version of this song. (1) The title of this song implies Ami Hospital is in a deep forest, Naoko’s mind is very depressed and she would die in a forest. And the lyrics of the song expresses and implies lack of communication between men and women, and clumsy love. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) is a song by the Beatles, composed by John Lennon, the second track from the album Rubber Soul released in 1965.
Map & Drama (2) – Map is a symbol of practical and useful things. Drama is a symbol of useless and boring things. But both of them, almost ordinary people are not interested in. Midori wrote
Walking (2, 3) – The most favourite thing and a pastime of Naoko. Naoko and Toru dated and walked many times and long distances all over Tokyo. Also, walking means Naoko’s mind has no destination and her unstable heart.
Billiards (2, 8)
Long Distance Runner (2) & Fast Track (3) – The two elements symbolize and compare the characteristic of Naoko with it of Nagasawa. Long distance runner means the mild and nervous characteristic of Naoko. Fast track athlete symbolizes the greedy and practical characteristic of Nagasawa.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (3) – Toru’s most favorite novel and the trigger to get to know Nagasawa. And it means Nagasawa is a kind of brilliant and greedy person like Jay Gatsby, and Toru is an onlooker to the world like Nick Carraway.
Straight Black Hair (2) & Extremely Short Hair or Pixie Cut (4) – A straight black hair is the symbol of Naoko, and her beauty, tenderness and nervousness. An extremely short hair is the symbol of Midori, and her cheerfulness, boyish characteristic and life force.
Firefly (3) – It may be a symbol of Naoko’s gloomy mind and her transient life, and the omen of the vanishment of Storm Trooper.
Cooking & cuisine – Present or exchange of love or friendship. To cook together or to have dinner together is turning points in this novel.
Hairslide
Music – Music in this novel is trigger, storage or media of memories including bad memories. Also, music is story which is equal to a novel. Music is a thing reflects and expresses mind.
Playing music – Playing music in this novel is a practical rehabilitation or a treatment to face with the real world, equal to write a novel. But who is in emotional pain can’t play music, so Naoko can’t play music and pay a JPY 100 penny for Reiko.
Greek tragedy – The symbol of view to the world of Toru. The real world is a drama or tragedy, but is not saved by gods like “Deus ex-machina”. We must live in the real tragic world without gods, but it also is a drama or story made by a society or a person. (4, 7)
Germany & the North
German & French languages – In this novel German is a symbol of reality and pragmatism. French is a symbol nervousness. To study foreign languages is to gain a rule. Nagasawa can use English, German, French, Italian and Spanish.
Language study – A symbol of Wittgenstein’s language game. Language game is all human activities, and each of them is a game has a rule. By Nagasawa’s view to live is a game, and gains, follows and makes use of rules. French is a principle of nervousness, and German is a principle of practice. Nagasawa is splendid person has knowledge of many rules, so he mastered English, German, French and Italian, then he began to learn Spanish.
Cucumber (7)
Cultural Things on This Novel
Truman Capote, John Updike, F. Scott Fitzgerald & Raymond Chandler – Toru’s favorite American novelists.
Kazumi Takahashi, Kenzaburo Oe, Yukio Mishima & contemporary French novelists – Political, artistic and existentialist authors to which students of the 1960’s preferred. But Toru’s favorite is weak and sissy (regaerded by other students) American novelists.
Great Gatsby – The trigger to Toru came across Nagasawa.
The Magic Mountain – A metaphor of Ami Hospital, a sanatorium in Kyoto, to which Naoko went.
Timeline
Naoko and Kizuki were childhood friends from thier infancy.
(Perhaps,) In 1966 – I met Naoko first time in the second grade of high school.
A nice afternoon in May 1967 (third grade of high school) – Toru and Kizuki cut afternoon classes and played pinball games. That night Kizuki passed away by himself. (2)
Spring of 1968 (Toru, age 18) – Toru entered a private university and a right-wing private dormitory. (2)
Sunday afternoon in the middle of May 1968 – Toru had a date with Naoko at Yotsuya. (2)
September 1968 – Naoko invited Toru to her flat first time.
October 1968 – Toru got to know Nagasawa trough Fitzgerald’s novel Great Gatsby. (3)
The middle of April 1969 – Toru went to Naoko’s flat to celebrate her birthday. And he slept with her first time. (3)
Three days before next Sunday – Naoko had moved out from her flat suddenly. (3)
End of May 1969 – Lectures of the University suspended, Toru started working at a delivery company.
June 1969 – Toru went out to sleep with girls twice with Nagasawa. (3)
Middle of September 1969 – Midori Kobayashi, a classmate of the university, called out to Toru at a small restaurant and they chatted. After a while, she invited him to her home, Kobayashi Bookshop, and she cooked the lunch for Toru. (4)
Autum 1969 – Toru visited Ami Hospital in Kyoto. (6)
Middle of December 1969 – Toru visited Ami Hospital again. (10)
Spring 1970 – Toru left the dormitory and moved to an apartment in the suburb of Kichijoji. (10)
Age 37 (1)
Outlines
(Toru remembered the memory of 20 years ago by the Beatles’ song Norwegian Wood.) (1)
↓
Naoko’s family and Kizuki’s family were neighbourhood, and they went around. Naoko and Kizuki were childhood friends. (2)
↓
At 12 years old, Toru first met with Naoko. (2)
↓
Toru, Naoko and Kizuki are class mates of a high school and dated by the three. (2)
↓
Suddenly, Kizuki passed away by himself after cut afternoon classes and played billiard games with Toru in a nice afternoon in May 1967. (2)
↓
Next April (1968), Toru entered a private university in Tokyo. And he lived in a right-wing private dormitory. (2)
↓
Next year (1969), Toru happened to meet Naoko on the Chuo commuter line. They dated and walked from Yotsuya to Komagome. (2)
↓
In the spring, Toru and Naoko would dated almost every weeks. And Naoko invited Toru up to her flat and cook for him. (3)
↓
In October, Toru got to know Nagasawa. (3)
↓
Toru and Nagasawa went to Shibuya or Shinjuku, picked up girls, and slept with them three or four times. (3)
↓
Toru met Nagasawa’s steady girlfriend Hatsumi. (3)
↓
In the winter, Toru started a part-time job in a little record shop in Shinjuku. (3)
↓
April 1970, Toru went to Naoko’s flat and they celebrated her 20th birthday. That night, Toru slept with Naoko first time. (3)
↓
Next Sunday, Toru visited Naoko’s flat, but Naoko had moved out from there at three days earlier. (3)
↓
In end of May, Lectures of the University suspended, Toru started working at a delivery company. (3)
↓
In June, Toru went out to sleep with girls twice with Nagasawa. (3)
↓
Middle of September 1970 – Midori Kobayashi, a classmate of the university, called out to Toru at a small restaurant and they chatted. (4)
↓
On a Sunday, Midori invited Toru to the Kobayashi Bookshop, and she entertain Toru to a lunch of delicate Kyoto style meals. (4)
↓
Horu got a letter from Naoko, and she invited him a psychiatrist sanatorium, Ami Hospital she entered. (5)
↓
Toru visited Ami Hospital in Kyoto, met Naoko and Reiko and stayed three days. (6)
Plots & Episodes
A. Toru’s life (in a private dormitory or a flat in Kichijoji)
B. The past story among Toru, Naoko and Kizuki (2)
C. Strange and awkward love story between Toru and Naoko (main episode)
Toru first met Naoko, Kizuki’s girlfriend when the second grade of high school, and they dated by the three many times. (2)
↓
Suddenly, Kizuki passed away by himself after cut afternoon classes and played billiard games with Toru in a nice afternoon in May. (2)
↓
(Next April (1968), Toru entered a private university in Tokyo. Naoko may enter a girls’ college in Tokyo, too.) (2)
↓
Next year (1969), Toru happened to meet Naoko on the Chuo commuter line. They dated and walked from Yotsuya to Komagome. (2)
↓
In the spring, Toru and Naoko would dated almost every weeks. And Naoko invited Toru up to her flat and cook for him. (3)
↓
Halfway through April 1969, Toru went to Naoko’s flat and they celebrated her 20th birthday. That night, Toru slept with Naoko first time. (3)
↓
Three days before next Sunday, Naoko had moved out from her flat. (3)
D. Toru, Nagasawa and Hatsumi
In October 1969, Toru got to know Nagasawa by Fitzgerald’s the Great Gatzby. (3)
↓
Toru and Nagasawa went to Shibuya or Shinjuku to pick up girls, and slept with them three or four times. (3)
↓
Toru met Nagasawa’s steady girlfriend Hatsumi. (3)
↓
(Naoko moved out suddenly.)
↓
In June 1970, Toru went out to sleep with girls twice with Nagasawa. (3)
E. Toru and Midori Kobayashi
At a Monday of the middle of September, a classmate of the university, Midori Kobayashi called out to Toru at a small restaurant near the university, then they chatted during a certain amount of time. She borrowed Toru’s lecture note. (4)
↓
At the promised time to return the note, she didn’t appear. (4)
↓
Next week, she appeared the lecture of Greek Tragedy. Two student activist had entered the lecture room, and when they began political agitations, Midori took Toru out to lunch. Then, they went to a fancy boxed-lunch speciality shop in Yotsuya.(4)
↓
On a Sunday, Midori invited Toru to the Kobayashi Bookshop, and she entertain Toru to a lunch of delicate Kyoto style meals. After the lunch, Midori talked about her dead mother and her father had went to Uruguay. (4)
F. Toru, Naoko and Reiko
On a Monday of Fall 1969, Toru went to Kyoto by bullet-train, and visited Ami Hospital by local bus. He met Naoko and her room mate and a music teacher of the hospital Reiko, and stayed three days. (6)
↓
In the middle of December 1969, Toru visited and stayed Ami Hospital again. (10)
G. Toru, Naoko and Midori
The main plot of this novel, but Naoko and Midori didn’t see directly. Toru’s dilemma between Naoko and Midori is an important matter of this story.
Impressive Scenes
Naoko’s walking date with Toru from Yotsuya to Komagome (2 – 3)
Kizuki’s sudden passing away (2)
Toru and Midori watched a neighbouring fire on the veranda of Midori’s house (4)
Toru, Naoko and Reiko chatted in a room of the sanatorium, Reiko played guitar (6)
Summaries, Keywords & Comments of Each Chapters
Chapter 1
A cold November, Toru Watanabe was remembered the memories of Autumn 1969, 20 years ago by a sweet orchestral cover version of the Beatles’ Norwegian Wood on an huge 747 went to Hamburg.
747 ; Hamburg ; Beatles ; Norwegian Wood ; Billy Joel ; the North Sea
Chapter 2
Toru’s life in a dormitory.
the war time Nakano spy school ; May Our Lord’s Reign ; NHK’s radio callisthenics ;
Toru dated with Naoko in Yotsuya at a Sunday afternoon in the middle of May. He met Naoko by chance in the Chuo commuter line. They left the train at Yotsuya and Naoko started to walk and strolled to Komagome. (It’s very long distance to walk ! 8.4 km distance and it spents 110 minutes by walk.)
Chuo commuter line ; bookshops in Kanda ; walking ; stroll ; Iidabashi ; Jinbocho ; Ochanomizu ; Hongo ; Komagome ; long distance runner ; 10,000 metres ; mountain climbing ; wrong words ; opposite words ; Yamanote Line ; Chuo Live ; Shinjuku ; Kokubunji
Toru first met Naoko at 12. And Kizuki is a childhood friend and the boyfriend of Naoko and the best friend of Toru. They and one another girls double-dated any-number of times. But Kizuki gave up it, then the three would do things together.
zoo ; pool ; cinema ; dentist ; Kuzuki’s funeral
Naoko had been angry with Toru, he was the last person to see Kizuki. A nice a nice afternoon in May (third grade of high school), Toru and Kizuki cut afternoon classes and played billiards four games. Kizuki was lost the games. That night, suddenly, somehow, Kizuki gassed himself to pass away used by his Honda N-360. After 10 months, Toru applied and entered a private university of Tokyo, and he left his hometown Kobe.
nice afternoon in May ; pool (billiards) ; N-360 ; flower ; Tokyo ; 500 miles from here ; Kobe ; bullet train
Chapter 3
Naoko and Toru dated almost every weeks and many times, they said nothing (about the past) and only kept on walking in Tokyo. She would invited him up to her flat and cook for him. Toru realized Naoko had wanted to begin a new life far from anyone she knew. Little by little they grew accustomed.
girls’ collage on the rural western edge of Tokyo ; English ; new life far from anyone
In September, a new term started. They dated and walked together all over Tokyo, but Toru felt painful and her long and frequently walkings means she has no destination in mind.
a new term ; no destination in mind ; religious ritual ; heal our wounded spirit ; zelkova leaves ; pullover ; suede shoes ; Amsterdam canal ; the Golden Gate Bridge
When autumn ended, they still dated and walked. They walked arm in arm, but Toru felt his warmth was not what she needed.
duffel coat ; rubber-soled shoes ; sycamore leaves ; tranparent clarity of Naoko’s eyes ; searching for words in space
The deep winter came, they would dated still, but Toru can’t told his feeling, worry and distress to Naoko.
18 to 19 ; my dead friend’s girl ; Claudel ; Racine ; her word-searching sickness
Toru’s favorite is American literature, especially Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald. But, guys in the dorm reads Kazumi Takahashi, Kenzaburo Oe, Yukio Mishima and French novelists. In October, Toru got to know Nagasawa when Toru read Great Gatsby in a hall of the dorm. Nagasawa read the book three times. He is brilliant, but he has both loftiness and irredeemable nature.
Truman Capote ; John Updike ; F. Scott Fitzgerald ; Raymond Chandler ; Kazumi Takahashi ; Kenzaburo Oe ; Yukio Mishima ; contemporary French novelists ; Great Gatsby ; a rule never to touch a book by any author who had not been dead at least 30 years. ; Balzac ; Dante ; Joseph Conrad ; Dickens ; Civil Servant Exam ; the Foreign Ministry ; hospital in Nagoya
Nagasawa was a playboy, and was rumoured he slept with more than 100 girls. Toru and Nagasawa picked up a pair of girls in Shibuya and Shinjuku, and played around with them three or four times.
more than 100 girls ; 75 ; 70; Shibuya ; Shinjuku ; dencent human being ; Dostoevsky ; gambling
In the winter, Toru started a part-time job in a little record shop in Shinjuku. Toru bought a Henry Mancini album to Naoko for a Christmas gift. She gave him a pair of handmade knit gloves.
Henry Mancini ; Dear Heart ; Christmas ; a pair of woollen gloves
In late January and February of 1969.
raging fever ; Brahms’ Fourth Symphony
Halfway through April 1969, Naoko turned 20. (Toru’s birthday is in November.) Toru bought a cake and they celebrated her birthday in her flat. But Toru and Naoko felt strange and stupid she became 20. Naoko talked to Toru various things. But Toru felt strange her storied separated A from B, B from C, like a cycle of records. Then Toru told he want to go back, Naoko suddenly cried and was upset. Then Toru slept with Naoko first time (Naoko slept with a man first time).
(age) 20 ; between 18 and 19 ; 17 ; Roman Colosseum ; Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band ; Bill Evans’ Waltz for Debbie ; own internal logic ; story A, B, C ; endless April rain
- Each tale of Naoko’s talkings had its own logic, also "the link from one to the next was odd”, and turned into A to B, B to C like cycles of record that may imply Naoko’s emotional unstable state and an sign of her mental illness.
Next, Naoko said nothing. On Naoko’s calendar, there were no memos or marks for future schedules written.
French verb chart ; calender
On next Sunday, Toru visited Naoko’s flat, but the manager of the flat told she had moved out three days earlier. Toru wrote a long letter to Naoko dressed to her home in Kobe. In May, lectures of Toru’s university was suspended by student strikes, Toru started hard labour work at a delivery company to forget the disappearance of Naoko. In June, Toru went out to sleep with girls twice with Nagasawa. The second girl asked various personal questions to Toru such as “Where was I (Toru) from ?” and “Which university did I go to ?”.
stopped smoking ; student strike ; whisky and books ; personal questions
The beginning of July, Toru received a short letter from Naoko. She told she was in a painful condition and needed rest, and she was considering to enter a psychiatry sanatorium in Kyoko.
writing is a painful process ; a quiet place cut off from the world
The end of July, Storm Trooper gave me a firefly and he went home during summer holidays. But, Toru decided he went home in Kobe and did a practical training session (part-time jobs) in Tokyo.
firefly ; summer holidays ; a practical training session ; Shinjuku ; Ikebukuro
- Is a firefly symbol of Naoko’s mind and her transient life ?
Chapter 4
During summer holidays, the university called the riot police and they evicted and arrested students. In September, lectures of the university started, and students who had resisted the university calmly attended the lectures. Toru had a distrust of both (words of) students and the university. Toru managed to isolate from the other students.
barricades ; massive amount capital ; balance of power within the university structure ; joke ; technique for dealing with boredom
Till the second week of September Storm Trooper didn’t return, and he left the dormitory. Toru enjoyed living alone. A noon of Monday, When toru went to a little restaurant to take a lunch, a class-mate girl of the university, with extremely short hair and dark sunglasses, Midori Kobayashi approached Toru and called to him, then sat down next to him. They chatted, Midori borrowed Toru’s lecture note of History of Drama and appointed meet again at the restaurant on Wednesday.
Jim Morrison ; Miles Davis ; small stereo ; Euripides ; History of Drama ; omelette ; salad ; extremely short hair ; dark sunglasses ; white cotton mini-dress ; macaroni and cheese ; Electra ; perm ; corpse on the beach with seaweed ; pixie cut ; girls with long hair ; fresh and physical life force ; defenceless ; naked ; Humphrey Bogart ; hiking ; rucksack ; sleeping bag ; Kanazawa ; Noto Peninsula ; Niigata ; green polo shirt ; Momoko: “Peach girl”
- Naoko and Storm Trooper have vanished, and, so Midori who cut her hair very short, appears on this story. (Long black hair is the symbol of Naoko.)
Midori didn’t appear the appointed time to give back Toru’s lecture note.
beer ; German lecture ; Toshima ; Kobayashi Bookshop ; huge bureaucratic system ; sounds like a game ; Zen saint ; Dickens
The following week, in the middle of lecture, Midori walked in the lecture room and gave back to Toru his lecture note. Then two student activists entered the room and forced the professor to pass on the lecture. The professor said “The world is full of problems far more urgent and relevant than Greek tragedy.” But he admitted the demand and two students started a political agitation, then Toru and Midori got out the room.
dark blue sports shirt ; cream-coloured cotton trousers ; her usual sunglasses ; Greek stage ; political agitation handbills ; State Power ; Lack of Imagination ; counter-revolutionaries ; telephone toles
- This scene signifies the student movement is a meaningless play (drama), and the importance of imagination, thinking and private life.
During classes, Midori took Toru to a fancy boxed-lunch speciality shop in Yotsuya, and they talked.
sleepier ; narrow silver bracelet ; like a monkey in the rain
Passing the Yotsuya station, Toru remembered Naoko. Toru and Midori sat on a bench in a park near the Yotsuya station. They saw the smokes of burning towels and tampons wipe away and dry menstruation from the girls junior-high and high school Midori had graduated. And, Midori talked about her private life and her families bookshop with full of complaints. Then Midori invited Toru to the Kobayashi Bookshop on Sunday.
endless walking ; ivy ; pigeons ; gables ; smoke ; sanitary towels ; incinerator ; 180 girls ; absolutely ordinary State school ; fancy place ; French dictionary ; German ; Mercedes Benz ; the Green Hornet ; Kita-Otsuka ; Kinokuniya ; ordinary working people ; typical house with a little garden ; Toyota Corolla ; hard up ; being rich ; ordinary people ; map
- Burning sanitary towels is a metaphor for the loss of life of Naoko’s mind, and Midori hated French and selected German that implies she is the replacement for Naoko.
- To hate rich people is a frequent motif or expression of Murakami’s novels. Rich people are greedy and haven’t fineness, they are opposed by poor people.
The Sunday morning, I went to the Kobayashi Bookshop by tram. When I reached the shop, Midori made a lunch.
daffodil ; Otsuka Station ; a few stubborn people who clung to old family properties ; reminiscent of old Polish film ; beer ; Apple Records logo ; to treat guests well
Midori cooked delicate Kyoto style nice meals because she was concerned with Toru is from Kansai. During the meal she talked about why she cooks well and mother’s loss of life. After she cleared the table, she said she had began to smoke unwillingly since one month ago, to forget her pain and to control her. During Midori and Toru was washing the dishes, Midori talked about his father went off Uruguay in June one years ago, to help a farm of his old army buddy.
big Kinokuniya in Shinjuku ; biggest, handsomest cookbook ; Marlboro ; Uruguay
- Cooking in Murakami’s novels is a present of love or a exchange of love.
A fire broke near the Midori’s house. They watched the fire, drinking beer and singing folks songs, then talking about love on the porch.
folk songs ; Lemon Tree ; Puff (The Magic Dragon) ; Five Hundred Miles ; Where Have All the Folowers Gone? ; Michael, Row the Boat Ashore ; cold-hearted ; real sadness ; love me unconditionally ; perfect love ; perfect selfishness ; play-acting
- This scene expresses detachments among people and the divide between persons around Toru and ordinary people. People think more important their private things and love than a serious incident occurs nearby.
Next Saturday night, Toru and Nagasawa went to Shinjuku to pick up girls. But girl pickings hadn’t gone well, and Nagasawa went to Hatsumi’s house and Toru watched The Graduate in an old rep house two times. Toru went to an all-night café to wait the first train. Toru shared a table with two girls well dressed and made up. At 5:20, They asked Toru to introduce a nice bar near here because they must drink for some reasons. So Toru bought sake and snacks from a vending machine, then they (including Toru) drunk at an empty car park. The big girl returned to Nagano, then Toru and the small girl went to a hotel and slept together.
gimlet ; margarita ; mysterious energy created by mixture of sex and alcohol ; cheeseburger ; The Graduate ; old rep house ; Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain ; Marvin Gaye ; the Bee Gees ; Nagano
Chapter 5
Toru got a long letter from Naoko. Naoko apologised and told her life and condition in Ami Hospital, and the free and voluntary therapy of there. And she suggested that Toru should visit there and see her.
pigeon, colours of the real world ; fair ; honest ; universally true ; circles ; self-justification ; therapy ; over-analytical ; simplify the world or complicate it ; patients ; accustom ; deformities ; idiosyncrasies ; growing vegetables ; Mahler symphonies ; the Beatles ; “outside people ; normal people in the normal world ; The Magic Mountain
Chapter 6
A Monday, Toru went to Kyoto by bullet-train. He arrived at Ami Hospital in deep mountains by local bus and walk around the noon.
Hikari express ; quiet place ; deep in the mountains
- Ami Hospital is in very deep mountains and a rural area of Kyoto. This scene implies the depth of Naoko’s depression and darkness.
Toru met Reiko, a music teacher or therapist also a patient and the room-mate of Naoko. Eating lunch, Reiko told about the particularity of Ami Hospital.
strong impression of cleanliness ; what an incredibly quiet place! ; play an instrument ; no ‘ordinary’ hospital ; ‘convalescence’ ; everybody helps everybody else ; everyone here is equal ; First you decide that you want to help and that you need to be helped by the other person. ; group session ; German exam ; self-sufficient ; Walt Disney ; Munch painting ; Yamaha 125cc
When Toru was lying a bed, Naoko came in the room and talked with Toru.
simple schoolgirl style (hair) ; hairslide ; butterfly
Evening of the next day, Toru, Naoko and Reiko ate dinner together and had a conversation. But Toru are suspicious of Ami Hospital and its perticular treatment. After taking the bath, the three drunk white wine and talked. Then Reiko took a guitar and played Bach pieces. When Reiko ended Bach, Naoko requested Beatles’ song Michelle, so Reiko played the song and Nowhere Man, Julia. Naoko requested Naoko’s favorite Norwegian Wood, Reiko took a porcelain beckoning cat and coin bank and Naoko put a JPY 100 coin to the bank, it’s a rule between them. Reiko played the song twice with real feeling without becoming sentimental, and Toru took put a JPY 100 coin too. But Naoko said the song make her so sad and alone.
Then Toru talked about Nagasawa, his behaviour and philosophy, and he was stoic to Naoko. And she said she thought he is a lot sicker in the head. Toru told he had already slept with eight or nine girls, so Reiko and Naoko were shocked. And Naoko talked about conditions when she slept with Toru and the special relationship with Kizuki, then she suddenly burst into tears.
unnaturally quiet room ; atmosphere of a specialised-machine-tool trade fair ; strong interest in a specialist field ; Bill Evans album ; moonlight ; large, white candle ; white wine ; guitar ; Michelle ; Nowhere Man ; Julia ; Norwegian Wood ; porcelain beckoning cat ; coin bank ; boss novas
stoic ; normal ; ordinary ; truly special relationship
Toru took a walking with Reiko. He talked he like to do things alone like hiking, swimming and reading, and he could never excited about games he play with others. Reiko told they (the doctors and the patients) had to wait for Naoko would recover herself a very long time. Reiko took a picture of her daughter and show it to Toru. And she said she had been wanted to be a concert pianist, but gave up it because her left hand stopped moving by a pre-competition stress. Then she talked about her marriage, husband, and childbirth.
hiking ; swimming ; reading ; do things alone ; waiting to recover yourself ; Izu ; total darkness ; jewel of energy ; Beyer ; sonatines
They returned to Naoko and Reiko’s room. Naoko became calm, and Toru and Naoko talked about memories of Kizuki. They went to bed. (Toru slept on a sofa in the living room.) Toru had a dream of willows and metal birds. In the midnight, Toru woke up and realized Naoko was sitting beside him and looking. Then Naoko slipped her nightdress and Toru felt her body was perfect flesh was stood out by moonlight and darkness.
moonlight ; willows ; metal birds ; silhouette ; perfect flesh ; reborn
The next day, after breakfast, they went to care of birds. In the morning, Naoko and Reiko went to the farm of the sanatorium, Toru stayed and studied German for a test at the kitchen table in the Naoko and Reiko’s room.
and a perfect girl of her piano lesson ideal pupil ; German ; all the forms in a grammar chart ; irregular German verb forms
In the afternoon, they went on a hike to nearby mountain.
village ; dead silent houses ; Pepé ; FM station
To be continued…
Remarks
- At first, Naoko is bright and energetic girl. But, as she spent time with Toru, she remembered the trauma of loss of life of Kizuki, then she got sick mentally.
- This novel is a story of two love triangles or many triangles. Such as Toru – Naoko – Kizuki, Toru – Midori – Naoko (the main plot of this novel, but Naoko didn’t meet with Midori), Toru – Nagasawa – Hatsumi, Toru – Naoko – Reiko, Toru – Midori – Midori’s boyfriend and so on. On the structure of narrative, according to Naoko spent time with Toru and she remember the trauma of Kizuki then she felt hurt got sick mentally. So Toru fall in love with Midori much more, then Naoko felt hurt much more.
- The association between Toru and Naoko in Tokyo continued only about one year. And she entered a sanatorium in Kyoto, on chapter 3, page 56.
- Midori Kobayashi is a mediator to Toru or nervous people around Toru with ordinary working people or the ordinary world.
- This novel is a love story, but I think it’s also the peak of Murakami’s thought of detachment and dis-communication.
Details of the Book
Nowegian Wood
Haruki Murakami
Vintage Publishing, London, United Kingdom, 04 Jul 2003
400 pages, £8.99
ISBN: 9780099448222
Related Posts and Pages
Note (EN) | Sputnik Sweetheart
Synopsis & Review | Sputnik Sweetheart
Note (EN) | Hear the Wind Sing
Note (EN) | Pinball, 1973
Timeline of Haruki Murakami
Works of Haruki Murakami
Literature / littérature / Literatur Page
YouTube Haruki Murakami Commentary Playlist
YouTube Literature & Philosophy Channel