And all because you killed yourself and left Naoko behind. Unlike you, I’ve chosen to live – and to live the best I know how. I see the core message of the book as one that reminds us to let go of the pain and loss and forge forward in life with courage, because it is easy to die, but living is hard. From the very beginning, even with the appearance of Midori, I always know who Toru loves best. Toru holds on to his love for Naoko and pinning for her recovery from mental illness prevent him from moving on with his life. The passion and impulse of young love draws us back to the days we might have our heart beating the fastest, kisses that lingers on our mind the longest, the words of love that we remembered eternally. The intensity of love and desire are portrayed beautifully in this novel. I also didn’t know the central theme about the book was about mental illness and dealing with grief. I read many reviews about the book, but none prepare me for the graphical sex that is depicted in this book.

There are talks about food, record store, Western music and novels, sanctuary of the mind, a love triangle (you will find this in short story titled “ Honey Pie” in Murakami’s After the Quake), sex and there are lots of it in this one. When Toru got back to his “real” life, a bubbly and erratic girl called Midori Kobayashi intruded Toru’s solitude life and Toru found himself falling in love with Midori.īecause I read so many of Murakami’s novels, trademark of his ideas borrowed from his other novels, or rather many later novels ideas borrow from Norwegian Wood (since this is published earlier) is evident. This self contained world in Sanatorium bears the Murakami hallmark of the sealed-off, safe, imaginary and nostalgic world that happens in the mind or the memories, but because this is his most grounded novel ever written, it is a sanatorium in its physical and substantial form. We soon discover that Naoko is not right in the head and the longest chapter, chapter 6 (page 118 to 219) was spent describing the life at the self-sustained Sanatorium in a secluded forest, where Toru paid Naoko a visit and met Naoko’s roommate, Reiko. When Kizuki finally decided to end his life, bonded by a common friend, Toru got involved with Kizuki’s girlfriend, Naoko. Kizuki and Naoko grew up together and are lovers. When Toru Watanabe, a 37-year-old business man, hears his first love’s favourite Beatles song he is transported back 20 years to his college days in Tokyo. So I read this as the final book of the J-Lit challenge 4. “Save the best for the last”, I said to myself. I have read so much rave reviews about it that I was afraid to read it, and even more afraid that I end up feeling shattered if I don’t like it. This book has became larger than life for me, at least for the past 6 months.

Norwegian forest haruki murakami