Norwegian Wood

Haruki Murakami, 1987 date read: 9/19/23

First the writing. I thought it was very well written, especially given it is a translation and those can be iffy. Evocative clear honest writing.

Now the story. The story broke me. Without too many spoilers, it is about suicide and mental illness. This hits very close to home for me because my kids and I all suffer from mental illness. I have OCD, depression, CPTSD, and anxiety. My elder child has schizoaffective disorder and CPTSD and the younger one has anorexia, depression, OCD, borderline personality, and CPTSD. We have all have our suicidal moments (for me ages 12 to 22).

The descriptions of mental crisis and mental illness were so honest it hurt. Therefore I say this is a painfully great novel.

Length: 307 pages

Rereadable: gutwrenching but yes

Classic: most definitely