Norwegian Wood Reading Notes - Penguin Books - Competition Brief

Whilst reading Norwegian Wood, I paid particular attention to the visual imagery of the story - thinking about the key metaphors Murakami uses for Toru's relationship with the other characters. Reading the story gave me a particular understanding of Murakami's gentle, observational writing style and the types of imagery he often uses. 

Every time a significant moment or feeling passed in the story I made note of it, thinking about how this could be visually conveyed. It felt important to do this throughout the story as the cover should convey each stage of reading the novel, not just the overall end feeling. Especially as the ending is quite separate and resolved, it doesn't quite convey the complexity of emotions felt by Toru throughout. That being said, Nako's life and death is the main theme throughout the novel, foreshadowed consistently. It would make sense that the cover might convey this for more serious, contemporary readers who are familiar with the novel.

A particular scene of the novel had interesting imagery that I felt could be visually conveyed. Toru talks of a firefly, which remains limp for some time (a metaphor for Nako's depression) which then eventually flies - unable for him to reach (Nako's death). This felt like the perfect scene to surmise the book's key themes - the firefly short in lifespan but momentarily bright and alive, linked to the themes of premature death and fleeting time of Toru's life as a student in the 1960s. This felt like something that could definitely be explored visually.