Murakami's "Norwegian Wood"- A review

Murakami's melancholic, coming of age novel, "Norwegian Wood", faces its central character with a deeply profound and fatalistic question- whether or not to grow up in a world that is impermanent and to step into a future that is uncertain. The profound quality of Murakami's work lies in this empathetic acknowledgement of the very real question that faces us at the bridge between childhood and adulthood. The author deals beautifully with themes of alienation and self-entrapment and although it is set in the Japan of the 1960s, the book's central themes play with our perceptions of suicide, suffering and mental illness and shed light on some of the shortcomings of our modern discussions of these issues. Murakami is careful not to belittle such considerations as the self-obsesses wonderings of an adolescent but shows that these are questions which should concern us all.

Art credit: Neil Moore. His work can be found here https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Norwegian-Wood/326613/1382619/view.