Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Murakami’s books feel like memories of the long walks and lovely deep conversations with friends. He describes the workings of the heart and mind, so real and so surreal. The beautiful soulful scenery and lovely weather background, you can feel it all in his words.
I started Norwegian wood as an audio book on YouTube and believe me my daily walks to office became a trance as his words entered my ears, mind, soul and heart. The resonation of his words go far and my thought machinery runs wild - sparks flying on various words and references.
The thoughts that emerged my head while reading this book
Breeding fireflies, butterflies and the snails in a big farm and get people to view and enjoy such wonderful sights. Also a healthy organism like firefly and butterfly get to live and grow happily
Parallel to dharamvir bharati and how the heroes tell their twisted tales of love and emotions although economic aspects are missing in Murakami
Ladies magazines and how they talk about sex and everything but don’t talk about jerk offs..
Girls have periods, boys jerk off
It’s just what it is, but people don’t talk about it
He talks about memories, how they become clearer when they becomes dimmer. You forget some parts but the other parts are so clear as real. Some memories of people and moments.
How Midori puts personal moments in all descriptions. Mostly truth but sometime made up, and people like it.
What are stories but a series of events. And unlike a lot of others, Murakami writes about each event as a story in itself. He is a brilliant writer who takes us with him in the scene as the conversations unravel between characters. Into their minds, to their thoughts and emotions.
Such interesting characters and the narrator Toru’s memories and conversations with them. That’s Murakami for you! He brings all these simple yet interesting characters alive thru his words and background. Midori, stormtrooper, Nauko, ... and the books they read - Fitzgerald’s, Tennessee Williams
And when the boy and girl talk, the boy always answers starting with ‘of course’ because possibly they themselves don’t know what they are feeling or girls just ask the most obvious questions for their big need for affirmation
Why do so many genius commit suicide - Virginia Woolf to Sushant Singh Rajput and many other intellectual and spiritual artists and thinkers are pulled into a world of their own creation - and what pushes them off the cliff, they genius telling them the futility of everything or just the need to put an end to the mental fight in their heads.
People are strange when you are a stranger
It’s a tribute to love for Beatles and all the tunes of the 60s, piano and musical genius.
I really like Midori and how she narrated her sexual fantasies to Watanabe and how she liked to climb trees. One of my colleagues has named his daughter Midori and apparently he was inspired by this book. Midori is a beautiful name of a fun and spirited girl who can fill people with love and life.
Good food makes you think you are alive
May be Murakami had a knack for relaxing people just like watanabi. He attracts miserable people so easily and makes them feel better.
So many suicides and deaths - and watanabe is drawn into their sadness loop like a third wheel. The energetic Kizuki, the graceful Hatsumi, Madori’s father, missing stormtrooper, Naoko’s sister and eventually the asylum and depressed people. There are books which help with dealing with your sadness. There is sadness in their stories and words which helps you surface the sadness inside you and realise it. Some such books are: Slinger’s - catcher in the rye, Manu Josheph’s - illicit happiness of other people and Kundra’s - the unbearable lightness of being.
There is a poignant feeling that you fall in love with in this book. Is this what they call melancholy! And the weather and the seasons help accentuate the beauty of the moods in the book, the spring season in March is when he realises his love for Midori and the autumn is when he goes up meet Naoko or has memories of long walks with her.
Yes that’s the genre of melancholic writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Naipaul, or Murakami. They have a genre of sadness romanticised, food for soul, feeling others pain to feel yours.
The melancholy gets background music as the song Norwegian wood, and many other beatles and 60s popular songs keep making appearances. Reoko and her exceptional music skills - build into the theme of the story. And the songs they sung - 500 miles, lemon tree, puff the dragon, where have all the showers gone and I have nothing
Finally the review
Don’t take my word for this excellent book. Take these comments from YouTube audio section. Read it here if you want to - https://youtu.be/H4ijiZPX4oI
Comments
Post a Comment