Echo of Loss

 What had struck me most about Norwegian Wood was the disquieting ending. For most of the novel, there is this impending worry about Naoko after her ex-boyfriend's suicide. Watanabe tears himself apart like rosary draped women over Naoko’s sickness and her sudden disappearance. When he does eventually manage to rekindle their relationship, the two have a parasocial relationship where it is up to Watanabe to maintain the connection and coddle her constantly. Naoko’s illness is notable in that she is otherwise unable to express any of her feelings in ways that she can be understood by others. This inability plagues her in the book until the end when she decides to take her own life. 

And although the book focuses on Watanabe caring for her, what is most interesting is that when he finally decides he has it within himself to move on from her suicide and be with Midori, he is unable to do so. “Where was I now? Gripping the receiver, I raised my head and turned to see what lay beyond the phone box. Where was I now? I had no idea. No idea at all. Where was this place? All that flashed into my eyes were the countless shapes of people walking by to nowhere. Again and again I called out for Midori from the dead centre of this place that was no place.” He is then plagued with the same illness of sorts that led to Kizuki and then Naoko to commit suicide. The vagueness of the ending and his coming to have the same issues reflect how grief can erase direction. 

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