Norwegian Good (book)

     I believe Norwegian Wood is an exemplary book because, at least in my case, it has many moments that resonate with the reader despite its occasionally unusual trappings. Murakami is able to capture moments of tender humanity and communicate them through words, which is the sign of any great writer. Something that always sticks out to me, and I cannot know if this is a universal experience or not, as usually when I assume my experiences are universal I am very mistaken, is when a sentence in a book makes me stop reading completely because it feels as if it was taken straight from my thoughts or it presents something I thought I knew about in such a different way as to make me reconsider many things. Those are the best moments in reading for me, and I find them most in writers like Toni Morrison, Yukio Mishima, and now I feel I can say Haruki Murakami. 

    A rather innocuous passage in Norwegian Wood that gave me pause as I just described was when Toru is out on his journey mourning the death of Naoko. Right after a stranger helps him out by offering food and money, Toru suddenly, seemingly for the first time, thinks of the cruel treatment he gave his high school girlfriend, saying, "Chills ran through me as I realized how bad I treated her. I had hardly ever thought of her thoughts or feelings or the pain I caused her...What was she doing now? I wondered. And had she forgiven me?" (275). This self reflection is hardly the most important part of the book, but something about those last five words hit me like a cannonball. I think a young romance can be the first time that someone is forced to recognize that they are capable of deeply hurting someone they love, even if they don't wish to, and like it or not Toru definitely has to live with the fact he did something that hurt both this nameless girl and Naoko. Of course he wasn't the reason Naoko was in the sanatorium and of course she hurt him as well, but that knowledge is hardly enough to assuage the guilt of hurting someone you love. This is just my interpretation, but I think Toru is a rather caring guy despite what Nagasawa says, and that he does want good things for those close to him. The fact that he was the cause of suffering for these women is a lot for someone like him to live with, and it is clear that he is still affected by these events many years later. Recognizing the dangers that come with intimacy is part of growing up, and if he can learn from the pain he has caused, maybe he will be better prepared for a relationship with Midori.

    Unrelated thoughts: I felt stupid at how surprised I was when Toru told Midori he loved her because it was very obvious the two of them were in love the whole time, I just tend to write off certain things Murakami characters do as part of the weird character interactions he writes. That being said the two literally spooned and still I was surprised that they liked each other, so I don't get any points for my observation skills. Also I was pretty sure at the end Midori was going to break up with Toru because he kept going off and not contacting her for long periods after promising her he'd never let her go, but everyone in class talked like they were pretty much definitely ending up together. The ending line certainly strikes me as ominous. I think I corresponded Midori a bit too much with someone I know and that painted my perceptions of how she was, so perhaps this interpretation is simply my folly. 

-Luke