Norwegian Wood

A dreamy coming-of-age tale in 1960s Japan

This book was my introduction to the writing of Haruki Murakami and I can’t imagine it any other way. Much more grounded in reality than most of his surreal, magical work, Norwegian Wood is the story of a young, rudderless college student finding his way in 1960s Tokyo. If you’d like to sample one of Japan’s finest living novelists, but aren’t quite ready to jump head first into talking cats or interdimensional travel, try this bittersweet tale of youth, love, and loss.