Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Norwegian Wood  By  cover art

Norwegian Wood

By: Haruki Murakami
Narrated by: John Chancer
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.25

Buy for $20.25

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

From the bestselling author of Kafka on the Shore: A magnificent coming-of-age story steeped in nostalgia, “a masterly novel” (The New York Times Book Review) blending the music, the mood, and the ethos that were the sixties with a young man’s hopeless and heroic first love.

Toru, a serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. As Naoko retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.

Stunning and elegiac, Norwegian Wood first propelled Haruki Murakami into the forefront of the literary scene.

©1987 Haruki Murakami (P)2013 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A masterly novel. . . .Norwegian Wood bears the unmistakable marks of Murakami’s hand.” (The New York Times Book Review)

Norwegian Wood . . . not only points to but manifests the author’s genius.” (Chicago Tribune)

“[A] treat . . . Murakami captures the heartbeat of his generation and draws the reader in so completely you mourn when the story is done.” (The Baltimore Sun)

Featured Article: Stirring Audiobooks Guaranteed to Make You Cry


When life gets overwhelming, there’s nothing more comforting than getting lost in an emotional listen and having a good cry. Whether a novel or a memoir, listens that make you cry are always a good thing: it means you’ve connected with the characters, become invested in the story, and truly feel the feelings—heartache, regret, betrayal, grief—the author intended to convey. Listen in to one of these audiobooks that will leave you reaching for the tissues.

What listeners say about Norwegian Wood

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,154
  • 4 Stars
    632
  • 3 Stars
    314
  • 2 Stars
    104
  • 1 Stars
    49
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,175
  • 4 Stars
    468
  • 3 Stars
    200
  • 2 Stars
    75
  • 1 Stars
    53
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    999
  • 4 Stars
    522
  • 3 Stars
    301
  • 2 Stars
    104
  • 1 Stars
    51

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Sorry, but I didn't like the narrator.

The narrator's female voice was annoying. Also, he missed the correct inflection at times. I wish I would've read this book instead of listen. With Murakami's books, I will read instead, I'll listen to more mainstream authors on Audible.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not up to usually high Murakami standards

Poorly read. Improper pronunciation of Japanese names. Inappropriate inflection. Glacially slowly developed plot. I expected much more of Murakami. I'm quite disappointed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Narrator: no clue how to pronounce Japanese names

I have enjoyed every other Murakami novel I've read. I'm not quite sure where this one was going, but basically I couldn't stand the narration. It was so wrong, including the fact that he had no clue whatsoever how to pronounce the Japanese names and that was so distracting.

Pronouncing Japanese words is really not difficult, and surely he could have learned or else they could have used a different narrator.

This one is going back, unfortunately.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Just Awful, and I'm a huge Murakami fan

What disappointed you about Norwegian Wood?

If this was the first Murakami novel I had ever read, I would never have read anything else he had written. This was clearly written before Murakami figured out his writing style, because this lacks both the amazing storytelling and wonderful prose in his later work.

What was most disappointing about Haruki Murakami’s story?

Whereas Kafka on the Shore & the Windup Bird Chronicle sucked you in and played with your soul, this novel was droll at best. I think I spent the entire novel waiting for a sparkling line of prose or one interesting thing done by any of the characters. Didn't happen.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of John Chancer?

Someone who was sounded 19. Having someone who sounds as old as ... me ... reading a book about teenage angst (is that was it was about?) ... is just ... inappropriate.

What character would you cut from Norwegian Wood?

All of them. Sorry. It was awful.

Any additional comments?

If anyone understands the ending, please write to explain it. Thanks.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Beautiful, Wistful...

tale of love and strained devotions not nearly as popular as it should be. Quiet, lyrical, subdued, this novel draws you into the world of the agonies and joys of loving. Simply a great read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

To others readers out there

To truly understand and enjoy this book knowing about the post war writings of Japan, existentialism, and Sartre would help. The writing is beautiful but the plot can be confusing at times because it focuses on the philosophy and post war styling. Still it's a good read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Treasured experience

Murakami's brilliant Norwegian Wood made me feel throughout the book as if everything inside of my skin had been scraped and gutted out leaving me empty. I feel a great appreciation for the world created within Norwegian Wood and even feel as if I have become a better person because I made it through the book. Fantastic characters pulled me into thoughts that were so compelling and engaging.

The narrator for the most part did a basically good job but being third generation American Japanese, wow, when he repeatedly totally mangled simple Japanese names, it was so painful. Midori is pronounced Me do (long "o" as in door) ri. The narrator would say: me-der-ree with a rapid pace, wow. When reading the Midori character's words as portrayed by the narrator, I could barely handle it and even looked up the free online PDF text so I could be spared the way in which the narrator did Midori.


Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated my experience of listening to Norwegian Wood on Audible.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great book, and great reading

this is very dfferent from other murakami novels, there's not so much imagination and absurdness to it but the concreteness of it is nice. still I feel it compliments murakamis other work quite well. would recommend to anyone interested in his work.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

This Bird Has Flown

I'm a little conflicted about 'Norwegian Wood.' I love Murakami and I think I get what Murakami was trying to say (at least partially) in this novel. I was just a little too bored and too disinterested to find myself caring about the novel. I finished it, just to have finished it, and kinda felt that Murakami might have felt the same way after writing it. By the end, I was almost begging for some Japanese 'Deus ex Machina' to suddenly appear and rescue me from the plastic bag-like suffocation of the life and death narrative. Ugh.

That all said, perhaps it really is me and not you with this one Murakami.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good and compelling in places but slow.

I liked it but didn't love it. A great audio performance and an interesting story. But despite some moving parts the story is slow and a tad dull.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful