3 Women

Having read Murakami’s “Norwegian Wood” as a teenager, and reading it again now, I feel as though I have a greater appreciation for the novel. When I was 16, reading about Naoko’s fragile nature, Midori’s hyper sexuality, of Reikos history of plausible assault of a minor, and Torus sexual fantasies that are recurring throughout the book all made me feel like Murakami was creating a collection of female caricatures that served as aids to Toru growing up. Now, reading this novel again and older, I feel a greater resonance with Naoko’s overwhelming greif and instability, with Toru’s unrelenting tethers to his past, to Reiko’s conflicting moral presentation and to Midori’s hyper-independence. While I still see the women as tools used for Torus own development, I can see how Murakami appears to be processing grief and loss through Toru, and how Toru is grappling between the life of the living and that of the dead, trying to continue engaging with the world while the relics of his past try to pull him back. I remember being appalled by the books ending in my first read through, not understanding why sex with Reiko would ever be necessary to conclude the novel. Now, I notice that Reiko gains Naoko’s clothes once she dies, and that Reiko wears them to see Toru. So when the two have sex, and Reiko departs, it’s almost as if Toru gets a final meeting with Naoko, and officially leaves his connection to her behind him. This part reminded me of Tony Takahashi asking his assistant to wear his wife’s clothes. There’s a strong association Murakami seems to have between the clothes people where and the remnants of their spirit within the pieces left behind after death, as I think this detail in the book's conclusion shows. After continued passage between the two distinct worlds throughout the novel, Toru is forced to choose one, and he is given the chance to leave Naoko behind while being with her once more through Reiko. Still, I think the ending is creepy and he could’ve chosen a different way to go about this, but I digress. 

Giavanna