Why is Norwegian Wood the most popular book in Japan?

Answer 1

No only a popular book in Japan, Norwegian wood is an international best seller for a number of reasons.

There are several themes in the book that set it aparts from its counterparts. The first that when it was first written, there was not a single book that vividly described delicate topics like sexuality, nostalgia, and indecisiveness. Toru, our main protagonist, finds it difficult to accept his roommates, comfort his best friends's girlfriend, and refuses to engage in a relationship with a girl who he yearns to be with. While all that unfolds, we learn of the other character's problems. Naoko, a close friend of Toru, mourns about he deceased boyfriend. Reiko, a grown women and a friend of Naoko, has to recover from the peculiar nightmares of being raped by an underage girl she trusted. Nagasawa has to decide whether he will abandon his long time girlfriend to get a job overseas. Most readers connect with all these problems easily. The reader feels emotions just mentioning these topics. Murakami writes about all these problems and leaves the solution somewhat arbitrary, but guides the readers emotions in the favorable meaning.

Althought it is not a big deal, it is also a high erotic book. Very few books are willing to talk openly of sex. Even fewer books are willing to animate a book about lesbian sex. Written in 1987, it was one of the first novels to vividly describe a delicate topic.

Much of the novel also vividly accuate with the historically events. It takes place in a troubled time; the student protest of 1968.

To sum it all up, this novel is "the novel everyone in Japan has read" because it is and exciting novel that thrill the readers and keeps the readers wanting to know what will happen of the wonderous live of Toru Watanabe.