This song is often described in the novel, and is the favorite song of the character Naoko. The original Japanese title, Noruwei no Mori, is the standard Japanese translation of the title of The Beatles song “ Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)“, written by John Lennon. Ī film adaptation of the same name was released in 2010, directed by Tran Anh Hung. Norwegian Wood was hugely popular with Japanese youth and made Murakami something of a superstar in his native country (apparently much to his dismay at the time). The story was subsequently included in the collection Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. Murakami adapted the first section of the novel from an earlier short story, “Firefly”. While it serves as the backdrop against which the events of the novel unfold, Murakami (through the eyes of Watanabe and Midori) portrays the student movement as largely weak-willed and hypocritical. The novel is set in Tokyo during the late 1960s, at a time when Japanese students, like those of many other nations, were protesting against the established order. Through Watanabe’s reminiscences we see him develop relationships with two very different women - the beautiful yet emotionally troubled Naoko, and the outgoing, lively Midori. It is told from the first-person perspective of Toru Watanabe, who looks back on his days as a college student living in Tokyo. The novel is a nostalgicstory of loss and burgeoning sexuality.

Norwegian Wood ( ノルウェイの森 Noruwei no Mori) is a 1987 novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.Ī poignant story of one college student’s romantic coming-of-age, Norwegian Wood takes us to that distant place of a young man’s first, hopeless, and heroic love.

Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable.

Midori norwegian wood