Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Norwegian Wood

Haruki Murakami

Random House UK · Print & ebook · July 4, 2003

First American Publication This stunning and elegiac novel by the author of the internationally acclaimed Wind-Up Bird Chronicle has sold over 4 million copies in Japan and is now available to American audiences for the first time.

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Themes
Romantic coming-of-age, Grief after a friend's death, Loneliness and isolation
Genres
Japanese Fiction, Coming-of-Age, Literary Fiction
Published
Random House UK, July 4, 2003

Who it’s for

  • Readers drawn to romantic coming-of-age stories shaped by grief
  • Readers interested in college life and the loneliness of adapting to it

Nearest books

Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved. Most of these share its genre: Japanese Fiction.

  1. Kafka on the ShoreHaruki Murakami62% match
  2. Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the WorldHaruki Murakami58% match
  3. Men Without WomenHaruki Murakami, Philip Gabriel55% match
  4. The Wind-up Bird ChronicleHaruki Murakami, Jay Rubin64% match
  5. On Earth We're Briefly GorgeousOcean Vuong48% matchAlso shares Literary Fiction
  6. A Tree Grows in BrooklynBetty Smith51% matchAlso shares Coming-of-Age
  7. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of PilgrimageHaruki Murakami59% match

For younger readers: How Do You Live?, The Astonishing Color of After, Go

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About this book

First American Publication This stunning and elegiac novel by the author of the internationally acclaimed Wind-Up Bird Chronicle has sold over 4 million copies in Japan and is now available to American audiences for the first time. It is sure to be a literary event.

Continue reading

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. 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. A 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.

Where it sits

Coming-of-Age80%
Japanese Fiction78%
Literary Fiction38%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Authors
Haruki Murakami
Publisher
Random House UK
Published
July 4, 2003
Format
Print & ebook
Theme
Romantic coming-of-age · Grief after a friend's death · Loneliness and isolation