The Forest of Norway

Author: Haruki Murakami
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2001-02-01
Features: The author of this book, Haruki Murakami, has won nearly all major Japanese literary awards. It has sold over 7 million copies in Japan and has been translated into multiple languages, becoming popular worldwide. This '100% love novel' has been reprinted more than ten times by Lixiang Publishing House and has also won the affection of Chinese readers. The plot of the novel is simple, the tone is slow, and the mood is gentle, yet the words overflow with an irresistible wave of impact, stirring strong emotional resonance in the readers. What does the novel want to tell us? Life and death? Death and sexuality? Sex and love? Honesty and sincerity? It's hard to answer at once. After finishing the book, one only feels as if their entire body and mind are immersed in boundless ice water, traveling through a stormy journey, or as if experiencing the silence after a storm, the dizziness after heavy drinking. It is an emotional, gentle, slightly melancholic, and 100% love novel.
The protagonist, Watanabe, narrates his love entanglement with two girls in the first-person perspective. One of his lovers, Naoko, was the girlfriend of his high school classmate Tsutomu, who later committed suicide. A year later, Watanabe meets Naoko by chance and begins a relationship. At this time, Naoko has become quiet and shy, with her beautiful, crystal-clear eyes occasionally flickering with an elusive shadow. The two walk aimlessly day after day in the Tokyo streets, stepping forward, backward, or side by side. On the night of Naoko's 20th birthday, they have sex, but the next day, Naoko disappears without a trace. A few months later, Naoko writes a letter saying she has moved into a psychiatric rehabilitation hospital deep in the mountains. When Watanabe visits her, he finds that Naoko has begun to exhibit the plumpness and beauty of a mature woman. That evening, though they are in the same room, Watanabe restrains himself and promises to wait for Naoko forever before parting.
After returning to school, Watanabe begins a relationship with Midori, a younger classmate, after an accidental encounter. Midori is completely the opposite of the introverted Naoko—she's "like a little deer leaping into the world with the morning light of spring." During this time, Watanabe is deeply troubled and conflicted. On one hand, he can't forget Naoko's lingering illness and tenderness; on the other, he finds it hard to resist Midori's bold confession and captivating vitality. Soon after, he learns of Naoko's suicide, and Watanabe travels aimlessly in a daze. Finally, encouraged by Reiko, a fellow patient of Naoko's in the same ward, he begins to explore the rest of his life.