A review by kabirahuja2431
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

4.0

I am such a Naoko when it comes to writing things down and I wish I was like Watanabe that I could just lay down all my thoughts into words perfectly. Reading Norwegian wood was some of the most immersion I have felt from any form of storytelling in recent times. I am a slow reader, but I could read hundreds of pages of this book in a single sitting. I could feel myself drawn into the story in a way it felt nothing outside of the book existed for me while I was reading it. Although, it's easy to dismiss Norwegian wood as just a love story but it was so much more than that for me. It felt so honest and personal. Although the book is riddled with references to other books, music or art in general, I could feel so much of the author in the book. The way he was able to capture the sadness that lies within all of us, even if the story had a lot of dramatic elements, all of the emotions felt genuine and as I mentioned earlier honest. I do not know how much of it gets lost in translation, but Murakami's prose always feel so vivid, without any overlong descriptions that I am used to with reading fantasy. Murakami's prose is what I will call precise and for me atleast created the perfect atmosphere of the setting of the story. I think this book will grow on me even more, that's why I am giving it a 4/5 for now, but reading Kafka on the Shore and now this, I am extremely impressed and I cannot wait to checkout Murakami's other works.