Norwegian Wood

I finished Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami this morning at 5:30. I'm one of those people that has to read whatever book I'm reading in as few sittings as possible, no matter how much my sleep suffers for it. I hate stopping what I'm doing to focus on something else. I am reminded of how annoying a trait this is constantly by my boyfriend, haha. I've noticed my younger sister is exactly the same way, worse even.
Anyways, Norwegian Wood. The emotion in this book is so strong and intense, even if the most of it was loneliness and sentimental longing, that it made The Handmaid's Tale come off as about as emotionally gripping as an instruction manual. I really don't know how I made it through The Handmaid's Tale after reading Norwegian Wood and genuinely caring for the characters in it and the story.
The story itself doesn't sound that great when described: yeah, yeah, suicidal friend, lonely university, skanky friend, skankier girl hanging around that he thinks he likes better than suicidal friend's girlfriend. But, seriously this book should be required reading for high school and university students. I can see this appealing to the same set that loves Twilight, Harry Potter, and all that stuff, if they could broaden their tastes. It's got drama. The main characters are all under the age of 21, with the exception of one. There's a love story there. I don't even know why people read that Stephanie Meyer's shit when there are more gripping stories, written better, directed at the same people (though I'm not sure if the author would agree).
Starting the book I wasn't much interested myself. It seemed too sentimental: a 30-something year old man reminiscing about a college girlfriend, BORING. But, I don't know how many different ways I can put this, the book was magnificent. You're slowly introduced to all the characters in Toru Watanabe's life: his friend, his friend's girlfriend, his roommate. As you're introduced, he tells little anecdotes about each and his life in general. Being accustomed to less subtle and more - HEY REMEMBER THIS! THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR LATER, SO I'LL REPEAT IT A COUPLE OF MORE TIMES TO REALLY POUND IT IN - type writers, I was braced and anticipating something the whole novel. And, it happened. Something happened at the end, but it was natural and not forced, like I was expecting. All of this hinting and foreshadowing that I thought was happening was just the story, kind of like life. I guess so many people thought the same thing that the author (according to the translator's note) was asked frequently if the novel was in any way autobiographical. Murakami has such a clear and concise style of writing that could never be cultivated, but must be some sort of innate gift.
Toru Watanabe is a typical university student. He has an annoying roommate that he jokes about with everyone in the dorm. He had a girlfriend he broke up with to move to Tokyo. He's studying something just to study it and graduate. But, before he left high school, his one and only friend killed himself. This one act affects the next several years of his life (and the rest of it, too, if he's still thinking about it in his thirties). After a year or so, he reconnects with his deceased friend's girlfriend, Naoko. The talk and see each other for over a year in the book. Then, the day of her twentieth birthday (in Japanese culture, age twenty is when you are a true adult), they sleep together and her psyche seems to just crumble. She disappears and a couple of weeks later, Toru finds out that Naoko has checked herself into a mental help facility (I don't really know what to call this) that is more like a community in the mountains of people trying to escape the outside world. Toru struggles with this by getting drunk with a friend and sleeping with random girls he meets in bars. He meets a girl named Midori in one of his classes and gets tangled up in her life, too. The rest of the book is Toru dealing with all of these things and people in his life. He struggles with his love for Naoko and her mental illness that seems to push him farther away. The characters in this book are ones that you won't forget (or maybe you will, I only read it this morning, so I would I hope I still remember them). They don't seem like characters in a book, but fleshed-out people who truly exist. Toru is someone that everyone can relate to; so much so that you completely understand his situation and dilemma and know that you would be tangled in the same web if you were presented with the same choices in your own life.

I am very much looking forward to reading more books by Haruki Murakami. I think I'll save them for a later date so as not to spoil myself with his style. I went to the library today and checked out Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, and The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. So, one of those will be next.