Blog Post #2

This was my second time reading Norwegian Wood, the first time around being about three years ago during the very beginning of the pandemic. I remember loving the novel, and what left the biggest impression on me more than any plot point was the deep sense of sadness that I felt when I finished it. The book is certainly not a happy one, and none of the characters seem to ever be content. Toru Watanabe's narration, that upon our class discussion I find myself comparing to Nick in The Great Gatsby more and more, is so perceptive and descriptive of others. Although surely biased, Watanabe's narration is so detailed and descriptive of others' psychological states that it almost seems like we are in the heads of the other characters as well, almost like an omniscient narrator. 

Another thing I wanted to note about the comparison between this book and The Great Gatsby is the ending. The ending of this book struck me particularly both times I read it because of how strangely vague it is and how abruptly it seems to end. Murakami's "again and again I called out for Midori from the dead center of this place that is no place" reminds me of Fitzgerald's memorable "and so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" because they both have this element of mystery and impenetrability. What is this place that is no place? Isn't Watanabe in a phone booth? And what does it mean to be borne back into the past? While we can make inferences about what this symbolic language means, my point is that both novels end on a very vague albeit very poetic note. The theme of the past, evoked explicitly in the last line of Gatsby is also a very prevalent theme in Norwegian Wood, as Watanabe seems to be ceaselessly held back by a past that he has a hard time letting go of. Murakami states how The Great Gatsby is his favorite novel, and while the ending of Norwegian Wood may not be directly inspired from the ending of Gatsby, for me, there is a whiff of similarity between the two. 

-Audree Damiba