#259 | Why Every Man Should Experience the Beauty of Haruki Murakami’s 1987 Coming of Age Novel ‘Norwegian Wood’ At Least Once
Quick SUMMARY:
Douglas Vigliotti dives into Haruki Murakami’s acclaimed coming-of-age novel Norwegian Wood. Vigliotti offers a compelling introduction to the book, unpacking its atmospheric exploration of love, loss, mental illness, and the complexities of memory. He highlights Murakami’s life, literary legacy, and signature style, sharing thought-provoking quotes (spoiler-free) and examining why the novel resonates so strongly with readers—especially men navigating their own journeys of self-discovery. The episode encourages men to embrace reading great literature as a tool for personal growth and exploration.
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TOPICS COVERED IN the EPISODE:
Introduction & Newsletter Reminder (00:09) - Host introduces the podcast, book of the week, and companion newsletter for listeners.
About Haruki Murakami (01:15) - Background on Murakami, his career, writing style, and recommended memoirs.
Murakami’s Literary Style & Previous Episode (02:23) - Discussion of Murakami’s writing styles, previous episode on Sputnik Sweetheart, and recurring themes.
Introduction to Norwegian Wood (03:38) - Overview of Norwegian Wood, its significance, and connection to the Beatles song.
Plot and Main Characters (04:49) - Summary of the main characters, their relationships, and the novel’s central conflicts.
Themes and Lessons (06:13) - Exploration of the book’s themes: hope, grief, memory, and the value of life’s lessons.
Favorite Quote #1 – Individuality in Reading (07:32) - First favorite quote about reading widely and thinking independently.
Favorite Quote #2 – Memory and Presence (07:32) - Second favorite quote on the importance of being remembered and the value of shared moments.
Favorite Quote #3 – Seizing Happiness (08:50) - Third favorite quote about taking chances for happiness and living without regret.
Closing & Contact Information (10:07) - Host thanks listeners, promotes his book, shares contact info, and encourages newsletter sign-up.
READ THE TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome back to Books for Men, a podcast to inspire more men to read and bring together men who do. So this week I am sharing another piece of literary fiction. It is also a coming-of-age story. It is titled Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. It's around 300 pages or so and came out in 1987. Of course, I will share a lot more about the author, the book, and the story, some of my favorite quotes, and why I think this story matters and you should read it. But before I do that, I did want to quickly remind you about the companion newsletter that goes with this podcast, and that is a roundup of all of the episodes from each month, complete with full book and author information, all the best quotes, episode summaries, and also additional book recommendations at the end of each newsletter. And again, that's just one email every single month, and you could sign up for that on the website BooksforMen.org. All right. Now let's turn back to the work at hand.
01:15 - First, as always, I want to start with the author himself, Haruki Murakami. He is a highly celebrated Japanese author who is widely read internationally. I think he's been translated into 50 languages. He sold millions and millions of books globally. But I really love his backstory of being a working-class jazz bar owner before becoming a novelist. He won a literary prize that would end up being his first novel. But it was reluctant, I guess, and he didn't think much of it, won it. And then the rest is history, as they say. He's written 15 novels or so, six short story collections and a slew of nonfiction books, which include two memoirs that I really love novelist as a vocation. And what I talk about when I talk about running, there's a great quote in that book where he says, “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” And in the book, he talks a lot about the comparison of running with writing. So, for any creative people out there, I would highly recommend that book.
02:23 - Either of those two memoirs is deserving of its own episodes, but we are here for “Norwegian Wood” today, and Murakami completes the trilogy of repeat authors for July. Similar to each of the previous two, Hemingway and Hunter S Thompson. He is another favorite of mine, and I have a bookshelf full of his work, but he's an author who has a wide berth of styles that he writes in, and I tend to enjoy his realism and magical realism more than any of his more abstract or surreal work. The previous episode that I did on Murakami was back in episode 127, and I will link it in the show notes, but I featured the book Sputnik Sweetheart, which is a beautifully tragic novel about unrequited love. And funnily enough, I would say today's book actually shares a lot in common with that book, at least thematically, in terms of unrequited love and loneliness, and also in aesthetic, which to me is very Murakami in general. It's something that is nostalgic, slightly romantic with a capital R, calm, reflective, almost melancholic in a way.
03:38 – “Norwegian Wood” is probably Murakami's most famous book, and it was what made him a household name in the literary world, both in Japan and globally. It also happens to be the book that triggered me on my Murakami deep dive, so I owe a lot to it, both creatively and as a consumer. That is one of the major reasons why I wanted to share it with you today. On that note, it's probably a good time for me to pivot into the book itself. So I should first start by saying, if you're wondering if “Norwegian Wood” is in reference to the classic Beatles song, it is, and it's a pivotal moment for our young protagonist named Toru, who the story is told through his eyes, and he is triggered upon hearing that classic Beatle song to think back to a very emotional time in his life. What then commences is the story that you will read, and it really centers around Toru’s relationship with two women. The first is Naoko, who is the ex-girlfriend of his friend who committed suicide.
04:49 - She is an emotionally unstable individual still trying to sift through the trauma of losing her boyfriend. And then there's Midori, the open and odd, I would say, classmate of Toru, who is in some ways the exact opposite of Naoko, but it’s Toru's loyalty and commitment to his deceased friend. That really complicates his feelings for Naoko, but not in the ways you might think. And ultimately, this presents many challenges for him in moving forward with Midori. As usual, I don't want to share any plotlines or events one because I don't think you need them to understand the story, but also because I don't want to ruin it for you, what actually happens on a plot level. Ultimately, it's a tale of longing and memory and loss and grief, love, personal growth, and definitely one that looks at mental health in many ways. Because even in Toru’s case, our protagonist, it's really a delicate balancing of how he handles this situation and processing his own grief, as he himself is haunted by the suicide of his friend, and he's trying to find meaning and stability in a way forward in life.
06:13 - Like most literary work, the plot, as I just alluded to, is a vessel for the more important themes, and often they're intertwined. To make a very cohesive reading experience in this book is a great example of that. For me, it's just a beautiful story, and although ambiguous in many ways, like a lot of Murakami's work, it showcases the power of hope and the ability to keep moving forward in the face of life's inevitable tragedies. And I think that this is the big reason why it is worth a read. It's going to teach you a great lesson about life, just because something ends on a not-so-good note. Many things don't end the way we want them to end. It doesn't mean that all of the good aspects or lessons that were learned along the way didn't happen, and we could take those memories with us for the rest of our lives. Okay, so to close out this episode, I am going to share three of my favorite quotes from the book. And the first one is, “If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
07:32 - It should be obvious why I love this quote because it is encouraging widespread reading, not just reading books that are popular or of the now or in the zeitgeist. It is, as Murakami is suggesting here, that you become part of the herd, so to speak, without realizing you are part of the herd. All right, so now let me turn to the second quote that I wanted to share with you, and it is a little bit more delicate, I would say. And Murakami writes, “I want you to always remember me. Will you remember that I existed? And that I stood next to you here like this?” To me, this is just so beautifully said, because so many aspects of our life are momentary, even if they are just with strangers, or people will only see once, there's something irreplaceable about being in the presence of another individual. And in this sense, he is speaking romantically. But I think we could really expand that out, and it becomes an even more meaningful quote. I just love the simplicity of it and the exactness of what he is saying, because it makes you consider all of the people that you once stood next to here like this.
08:50 - Okay, so now let me share with you the third and final quote that I want to close out this episode with, and Murakami writes: “But who can say what's best? That's why you need to grab whatever chance you have of happiness where you find it and not worry about other people too much. My experience tells me that we get no more than two or three such chances in a lifetime, and if we let them go, we regret it for the rest of our lives.” The gravitas of this quote doesn't need any further explanation, so I will hold myself back from doing so. And instead. Thank you for listening to this episode, and if you enjoyed it, I want to encourage you to of course not just read the book, but also to help out this show by clicking subscribe on whatever podcast platform you are listening to this on, because it is the best way for other people to hear this episode and in return inspire more men to read. If you want to tell me how you think I did on this episode, or what you think about the podcast more broadly, there are two ways that you could reach out to me: on Instagram @DouglasVigliotti.
10:07 - It's the only social media that I have, or via my website, DouglasVigliotti.com. I do have a new book out that is titled “Aristotle for Novelists: 14 Timeless Principles on the Art of Story”. If you are interested in finding out more information about that, you could visit the website AristotleforNovelists.com. All of these links will be in the show notes. Last but not least, if you would like more information on this podcast specifically, which includes signing up for the previously mentioned newsletter, all you have to do is head over to the website BooksforMen.org
