Kafka Tamura, at the age of fifteen, makes a life-altering decision to escape from his home, driven by a haunting prophecy from his father.
On the other hand, Nakata, an elderly man with an unusual childhood affliction that left him illiterate, leads a simple life tracking lost cats. However, unexpected events suddenly disrupt his peaceful existence.
As their individual journeys unfold, strange and extraordinary events become common: cats communicate with people, fish fall from the sky, and a mysterious pimp employs a girl well-versed in philosophical theories. Meanwhile, a forest conceals soldiers seemingly untouched by time since World War II. Amid this enigmatic backdrop, a brutal murder occurs, with the victim and the killer’s identities hidden, adding to the many enigmas that converge to form a mesmerizing and dreamlike masterpiece.
Critics highly praise the novel’s sense of wonder and its magical elements, describing it as hypnotic and spellbinding. The story weaves a captivating and fluid narrative that leaves readers completely enthralled.
Haruki Murakami, the acclaimed author, wrote this novel in 1978, when he was only twenty-nine years old and running a jazz bar in Tokyo. It was during a baseball game that a sudden impulse drove him to start writing, and the result was his debut novel, “Hear the Wind Sing.” After winning a new writers’ award, Murakami continued to create more novels, including “A Wild Sheep Chase” and “Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.” Nevertheless, it was “Norwegian Wood,” published in 1987, that propelled him to literary stardom, establishing him as a celebrated and exceptional literary figure.
