Naoko's smile (novel)

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First edition, volumes 1 and 2

Naoko's smile ( Japanese ノ ル ウ ェ イ の 森 , Noruwei no Mori ) is a novel by the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami , which was published on September 10, 1987 by Kōdansha in two volumes. The Japanese paperback edition followed in April 1991. While student unrest is raging at all universities in the country and worldwide, Tōru Watanabe ( protagonist and first-person narrator at the same time ) is caught in his indecision about the love for two women: the mysterious and quiet Naoko and the fun-loving and extroverted Midori Kobayashi.

The novel was sold 13 million times worldwide.

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When the song Norwegian Wood by the Beatles can be heard from the loudspeakers of the aircraft arriving in Hamburg , 37-year-old Tōru Watanabe thinks back to the 1960s and the events that have influenced his life since then.

Tōru, his classmate Kizuki and his girlfriend Naoko are best friends and do almost everything in a threesome. At the age of 17, Kizuki suddenly committed suicide for some inexplicable reason. Since it is very difficult for the other two to come to terms with this loss, they move to Tokyo as soon as they finish high school. As a result, their ways separate. A few months later, they run into each other by chance on the subway, and a friendly relationship develops again. There is not much talk, but every Sunday they take a stroll through the streets of Tokyo for several hours.

After her first year of study, Naoko is taken to a sanatorium by her parents , as she is traumatized by the suicides of her older sister and Kizuki and cannot cope with life. There, the elderly fellow patient, Reiko Ishida, helps her to deal with her problems.

Tōru meets the life-hungry Midori Kobayashi, who embodies the opposite of Naoko. A love triangle is gradually developing because he cannot decide which of the two girls should be. He visits Naoko several times in the sanatorium and gets to know Reiko there, from whom he is later informed by letter about Naoko's suicide. He then travels aimlessly through Japan for more than a month. Returning to Tokyo, he meets Reiko, who has been released from the sanatorium, and through the conversations and sex that night he realizes that Midori is the most important person in his life. He gets in contact with her again and reveals his love to her over the phone. The novel ends in this phone booth.

Acting persons

Tōru Watanabe
Tōru is a theater studies student who , unlike many fellow students, likes to read a lot. Above all, he prefers literature that is no longer entirely contemporary. He also enjoys listening to music - from Mozart to the Beatles . He lives in a student dormitory just outside the city and earns his living by working in a record store in the evenings.
Naoko
At first Naoko and Tōru were only friends with Kizuki, who took his own life. Both then move away from home and try to start a new life in Tokyo. They run into each other by chance in the subway and become friends again. The relationship with Naoko is not easy for Tōru. Naoko is a very quiet person. Often she doesn't find the right words.
Midori Kobayashi
Like Tōru, Midori studies theater studies at the same university and takes the same course. She and her sister take care of their father's bookstore. Although she has a boyfriend, she feels more and more attracted to Tōru. She is a happy and impulsive young woman.
Kizuki
Kizuki was once Toru's best and only friend. He had known Naoko since childhood, who also became his girlfriend. For no apparent reason, he committed suicide at the age of seventeen.
Reiko Ishida
Reiko is not only Naokos' roommate in the sanatorium, but also an important and understanding friend. She empathetically helps Tōru later in processing the events.
Nagasawa
He is studying law at Tokyo University and is good friends with Tōru and shares the same admiration for the novel The Great Gatsby . Together they flirt with lots of girls in order to later sleep with them.
Hatsumi
Hatsumi is Nagasawa's friend. She tries again and again to pair Tōru with another girl, but the girl refuses with thanks. Nor does she mind that Nagasawa always sleeps with other women because she thinks she can change him. Two years after she left Nagasawa to go to Germany, she will get married. Two years later, she committed suicide again .
"Sturmbannführer"
Toru's roommate in the dormitory. He studies cartography and later wants to work for the Geographical Survey Institute of Japan . He leaves the dormitory, and Tōru never hears from him again. He owes his nickname to his compulsive urge for neatness, which makes him the target of ridicule among his fellow students as well as between Naoko and Tōru.
Momoko Kobayashi
Midori's younger sister.
Kobayashi-san
Midori's father. Midori initially tells Tōru that he emigrated to Uruguay , but later says it was a lie. Instead, he is in a hospital in Tokyo due to a brain tumor . When he dies, his daughters sell the bookstore.

filming

The film adaptation of the novel was released in Japan on December 11, 2010. The film was released in Germany on June 30, 2011. Trần Anh Hùng is responsible for the direction and script, and the music for the film by Jonny Greenwood .

expenditure

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreas Platthaus: The art of suggestion: "Naoko's smile". In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . June 29, 2011, Retrieved July 4, 2011 .