33) Norwegian Wood-Haruki Murakami

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 chances in a lifetime, and if we let them go, we regret it for the rest of our lives.

Toru was a student studying in Tokyo in the late 1960s. While on a plane later in life, he hears a version of "Norwegian Wood" by the Beatles and thinks back to the time when that song really meant something to him. He's transported back to the time in his life when Naoko was the one person he truly cared about. He had met Naoko when they were much younger and she was dating his best friend. When his best friend committed suicide, the two stopped speaking until they ran into each other while he was studying at university in Tokyo. The two would spend their Sundays together walking around the city and talking about life. It was during these Sundays that he truly started to fall in love with the emotionally closed off Naoko. 

After an event gone awry for her, she stops speaking to Toru altogether. He's hurt and isn't sure what he did, but doesn't push it. He starts to hangout with an older guy in his dormitory and starts to see just how scummy guys can be. This guy has it all, but still manages to screw around just because he can. Toru isn't sure how he feels about all of it, but goes along with the guy to dinners and bars where they pick up girls. One day, while eating lunch alone, a girl comes and sits down next to him and starts a conversation. He starts to spend time with Midori and eventually finds his love for Naoko ruining things with Midori. But Naoko isn't capable of loving Toru. What will it take for him to realize that?

I was really excited to read this book. I think Haruki is an incredible writer and I think any book that was brought to life by a Beatles song should be read since I'm a huge Beatles fan. What? It's a thing. Anyway, although I thought that this was a really good book and full of really insightful pieces, it took awhile before there was a real flow to it. By that I mean it took awhile before I could really ease into it and not put it down. There was a lot of death and despair in this that I was not expecting and that also made it a little more difficult to get through. A suicide would just pop up out of nowhere and you'd need to put it down and think happy things for a bit! 

Would I recommend this book to others? Absolutely. I really do think that Haruki writes really well thought out plots and really beautiful lines. It's a great coming of age story for someone who is looking for something a little bit different. Just be prepared for the amount of sadness that resides within these pages. It can be overwhelming at times. Nevertheless, it's a really nice read.