27/01/2023
//Book review//
"I want you always to remember me. Will you remember that I existed, and that I stood next to you here like this?"
-Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood.
It was my first ever book by Haruki Murakami and finally, I completed reading it. Overall I liked the story, it's a simple story and an engaging one.
A beautiful story about mental health, relationships, death, and grief with interesting characters - all packaged in simplicity.
This book makes up for its slow pacing with how it can make us fall in love with the characters. I've never complained about the pacing because I know Murakami is trying to tell the readers that character A matters, or this character and this character's relationship matters. Norwegian Wood also explores Japan by putting, to me, unfamiliar Japanese locations that makes you want to look it up on Google immediately.
The book also focuses on the feeling of loneliness and sadness through which the protagonist goes through. Many such paragraphs moved me, as they beautifully explain the concept of life, death and love. Also, the plot is set in Tokyo and other places in Japan and the scenic description is beautifully done by the author. I would recommend this book to someone who is open-minded and who loves to read the Romance genre because it's a love story. -©️
