Norwegian Wood

As his plane lands at a European airport, thirty-seven-year-old Toru Watanabe casually hears an old Beatles song. Suddenly, the music transports him back to his youth, to the turbulent Tokyo of the late sixties. He then remembers, with melancholy and unease, the unstable and mysterious Naoko, the girlfriend of his best—and only—friend from adolescence, Kizuki, and how Kizuki's suicide distanced them for a year until they reunited at university. There, they began an intimate relationship, which was soon cut short by Naoko’s fragile mental health, leading to her admission to a rest center. Shortly afterward, Watanabe fell in love with Midori, a lively and determined young woman. Indecisive and plagued by fears, Watanabe experienced only bewilderment and disillusionment in the very areas where everything was supposed to make sense: sex, love, and death. The unbearable situation led him to seek a delicate balance between his hopes and the need to find his place in the world.

Mientras su avión aterriza en un aeropuerto europeo, Toru Watanabe, de treinta y siete años, escucha casualmente una vieja canción de los Beatles: de pronto, la música le hace retroceder a su juventud, al turbulento Tokio de finales de los sesenta. Recuerda entonces, con melancolía y desasosiego, a la inestable y misteriosa Naoko, la novia de su mejor -y único- amigo de la adolescencia, Kizuki, y cómo el suicidio de éste les distanció durante un año, hasta que se reencontraron en la universidad. Iniciaron allí una relación íntima, truncada, sin embargo, por la frágil salud mental de Naoko, a quien hubo que internar en un centro de reposo. Al poco, Watanabe se enamoró de Midori, una joven activa y resuelta. Indeciso, acosado por los temores, Watanabe sólo experimentaba el deslumbramiento y el desengaño allá donde todo debía cobrar sentido: el sexo, el amor y la muerte. La insostenible situación le llevó entonces a intentar alcanzar el delicado equilibrio entre sus esperanzas y la necesidad de encontrar su lugar en el mundo.

Norwegian Wood (ノルウェイの森, Noruwei no Mori) is a 1987 novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

The novel is a nostalgic story of loss. It is told from the first-person perspective of Toru Watanabe, who looks back on his days as a college student living in Tokyo. Through Watanabe's reminiscences, readers see him develop relationships with two very different women—the beautiful yet emotionally troubled Naoko, and the outgoing, lively Midori.

This novel is set in late-1960s Tokyo during a period when Japanese students, like those of many other nations, were protesting against the established order. 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.

Murakami adapted the first section of the novel from an earlier short story, "Firefly". The story was subsequently included in the collection Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman.

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). During the height of the popularity, Murakami would even leave Japan for a time.

A film adaptation with the same title was released in 2010, directed by Tran Anh Hung.