Norwegian Wood is a simple coming-of-age tale, primarily set in 1969-70, when the author was attending university. The political upheavals and student strikes of the period form the novel's backdrop. But the focus here is the young Watanabe's love affairs, and the pain and pleasure and attendant losses of growing up. The collapse of a romance (and this is one among many!) leaves him in a metaphysical shambles:
I read Naoko's letter again and again, and each time I read it I would be filled with the same unbearable sadness I used to feel whenever Naoko stared into my eyes. I had no way to deal with it, no place I could take it to or hide it away. Like the wind passing over my body, it had neither shape nor weight, nor could I wrap myself in it.This account of a young man's sentimental education sometimes reads like a cross between Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Stephen Vizinczey's In Praise of Older Women. It is less complex and perhaps ultimately less satisfying than Murakami's other, more allegorical work. Still, Norwegian Wood captures the huge expectation of youth--and of this particular time in history--for the future and for the place of love in it. It is also a work saturated with sadness, an emotion that can sometimes cripple a novel but which here merely underscores its youthful poignancy. --Mark Thwaite
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翻訳物を読むとき、時として「何か違う」と感じてしまうことがあります。しかし、この Jay Rubin 訳の『Norwegian Wood』は物語の中に簡単に入ってしまい、夢中になり、途中、英語訳を読んでることさえ忘れてしまいました。
本当に訳者は丁寧に、原書(日本語)の雰囲気を大切にしながら言葉を選んでいます。村上春樹の古くからの読者、新しい読者、両方にお薦めです。
また、英語学習をかねて読むのなら、あまり難しい単語を気にせずに、流れを大切に読み進めたほうがいいと思います。ある販売促進キャンペーンで「TOEIC 720~」と帯が付いていましたが、単語力のみで言うと、それ以上です。実際、私は以前に海外に住んでいましたが、知らない単語はたくさんありました。全ての単語を辞書で調べる ―というのも一つの手ですが― より、何度も出てきて気になる単語だけ後で調べるほうが、意外に多くの単語を覚えられますよ。
とにかく、ここまで「読ませる」小説、なかなかありませんよね。
ただ・・・
表紙が残念だ。
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