Norwegian Wood

A melancholic coming-of-age novel set in 1960s Tokyo, exploring love, loss, and mental illness with Murakami's signature dreamlike atmosphere.

Toru Watanabe is a quiet, introspective student at Tokyo University in the late 1960s, a time of political upheaval and social change. When he hears the Beatles song "Norwegian Wood," he's transported back to memories of his relationship with Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki, who committed suicide in high school.

Murakami's most accessible novel is also his most emotionally direct, focusing on the complex relationships between Toru, the fragile and mysterious Naoko, and Midori, a vibrant, outgoing girl who represents a different path forward. As Naoko struggles with depression and eventually enters a sanatorium, Toru must choose between loyalty to the past and the possibility of a future.

The novel captures the particular melancholy of young adulthood—the sense of being suspended between childhood and full independence, the intensity of first love, and the gradual recognition that life is more complicated and painful than one had imagined. Murakami's prose is deceptively simple, but it captures subtle emotional states with remarkable precision.

Set against the backdrop of student protests and cultural revolution, Norwegian Wood shows how personal relationships can feel both intensely important and strangely disconnected from larger historical events. Toru's generation is caught between traditional Japanese values and Western influences, between political engagement and personal concerns.

The novel's exploration of mental illness is particularly sensitive, showing how depression affects not only the sufferer but everyone around them. Naoko's condition is not romanticized or simplified—Murakami presents it as a genuine illness that requires understanding and professional care.

Norwegian Wood became a cultural phenomenon in Japan and established Murakami as a major international literary voice. It remains the perfect introduction to his unique blend of realism and surrealism.