{"product_id":"norwegian-wood-haruki-murakami","title":"Norwegian Wood;  Haruki Murakami","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eToru, a quiet and preternaturally 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. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA magnificent blending of the music, the mood, and the ethos that was the sixties with the story of one college student's romantic coming of age, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eNorwegian Wood\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e brilliantly recaptures a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSeptember 4, 1987\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eMurakami\u003c\/b\u003e Haruki (Japanese: \u003ca rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/11882216\"\u003e村上 春樹\u003c\/a\u003e) is a popular contemporary Japanese writer and translator. His work has been described as \u003ci\u003e'easily accessible, yet profoundly complex'\u003c\/i\u003e. He can be located on Facebook at: \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/harukimurakamiauthor\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ehttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/harukimuraka...\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSince childhood, Murakami has been heavily influenced by Western culture, particularly Western music and literature. He grew up reading a range of works by American writers, such as Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan, and he is often distinguished from other Japanese writers by his Western influences.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMurakami studied drama at Waseda University in Tokyo, where he met his wife, Yoko. His first job was at a record store, which is where one of his main characters, Toru Watanabe in \u003ci\u003eNorwegian Wood\u003c\/i\u003e, works. Shortly before finishing his studies, Murakami opened the coffeehouse \u003ci\u003e'Peter Cat'\u003c\/i\u003e which was a jazz bar in the evening in Kokubunji, Tokyo with his wife.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMany of his novels have themes and titles that invoke classical music, such as the three books making up \u003ci\u003eThe Wind-Up Bird Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e: \u003ci\u003eThe Thieving Magpie\u003c\/i\u003e (after Rossini's opera), \u003ci\u003eBird as Prophet\u003c\/i\u003e (after a piano piece by Robert Schumann usually known in English as \u003ci\u003eThe Prophet Bird\u003c\/i\u003e), and \u003ci\u003eThe Bird-Catcher\u003c\/i\u003e (a character in Mozart's opera \u003ci\u003eThe Magic Flute\u003c\/i\u003e). Some of his novels take their titles from songs: \u003ci\u003eDance, Dance, Dance\u003c\/i\u003e (after The Dells' song, although it is widely thought it was titled after the \u003ci\u003eBeach Boys\u003c\/i\u003e tune), \u003ci\u003eNorwegian Wood\u003c\/i\u003e (after The Beatles' song) and \u003ci\u003eSouth of the Border, West of the Sun\u003c\/i\u003e (the first part being the title of a song by Nat King Cole).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"FREEAIR Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44781486506306,"sku":"","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/8735\/3154\/products\/nor.jpg?v=1679242501","url":"https:\/\/shop.freeairbooks.com\/products\/norwegian-wood-haruki-murakami","provider":"FREEAIR Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}