murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood
murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood
laughing. "How many girls has he slept with?" "It's probably up to 80 now," I said. "But in his case, the higher the numbers go, the less each individual act seems to mean. Which is what I think he's trying to accomplish." "And you call that "stoic'?" "For him it is." Naoko thought about my words for a minute. "I think he's a lot sicker in the head than I am," she said. "So do I," I said. "But he can put all of his warped qualities into a logical system. He's brilliant. If you brought him here, he'd be out in two days. "Oh, sure, I know all that,' he'd say. "I understand everything you're doing here.' He's that kind of guy. The kind people respect." "I guess I'm the opposite of brilliant," said Naoko. "I don't understand anything they're doing here - any better than I understand myself." "It's not because you're not smart," I said. "You're normal. I've got tons of things I don't understand about myself. We're both normal: ordinary." Naoko raised her feet to the edge of the sofa and rested her chin on her knees. "I want to know more about you," she said. "I'm just an ordinary guy - ordinary family, ordinary education, ordinary face, ordinary exam results, ordinary thoughts in my head." "You're such a big Scott Fitzgerald fan ... wasn't he the one who said you shouldn't trust anybody who calls himself an ordinary man? You lent me the book!" said Naoko with a mischievous smile. "True," I said. "But this is no affectation. I really, truly believe deep down that I'm an ordinary person. Can you find something in me that's not ordinary?" "Of course I can!" said Naoko with a hint of impatience. "Don't you get it? Why do you think I slept with you? Because I was so drunk I would have slept with anyone?" "No, of course I don't think that," I said. 134
Naoko remained silent for a long time, staring at her toes. At a loss for words, I took another sip of wine. "How many girls have you slept with, Toru?" Naoko asked in a tiny voice as if the thought had just crossed her mind. "Eight or nine," I answered truthfully. Reiko plopped the guitar into her lap. "You're not even 20 years old!" she said. "What kind of life are you leading?" Naoko kept silent and watched me with those clear eyes of hers. I told Reiko about the first girl I'd slept with and how we had broken up. I had found it impossible to love her, I explained. I went on to tell her about my sleeping with one girl after another under Nagasawa's tutelage. "I'm not trying to make excuses, but I was in pain," I said to Naoko. "Here I was, seeing you almost every week, and talking with you, and knowing that the only one in your heart was Kizuki. It hurt. It really hurt. And I think that's why I slept with girls I didn't know." Naoko shook her head for a few moments, and then she raised her face to look at me. "You asked me that time why I had never slept with Kizuki, didn't you? Do you still want to know?" "I suppose it's something I really ought to know," I said. "I think so, too," said Naoko. "The dead will always be dead, but we have to go on living." I nodded. Reiko played the same difficult passage over and over, trying to get it right. "I was ready to sleep with him," said Naoko, unclasping her hairslide and letting her hair down. She toyed with the butterfly shape in her hands. "And of course he wanted to sleep with me. So we tried. We tried a lot. But it never worked. We couldn't do it. I didn't know why then, and I still don't know why. I loved him, and I wasn't worried about losing my virginity. I would have been glad to do anything he wanted. But it never worked." Naoko lifted the hair she had let down and fastened it with the slide. 135
- Page 84 and 85: I nodded, swallowing a mouthful of
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- Page 90 and 91: unning away." "Even if this place b
- Page 92 and 93: "It's true. Don't you think I'm ter
- Page 94 and 95: different from other people's. I'm
- Page 96 and 97: call," I said. 'As long as lunch is
- Page 98 and 99: At 11.30 Nagasawa was ready to give
- Page 100 and 101: "So find a vending machine and a ni
- Page 102 and 103: the events had undoubtedly happened
- Page 104 and 105: this time I am very, very calm. Cle
- Page 106 and 107: We eat freshly picked fruits and ve
- Page 108 and 109: to the Ami Hostel. A woman receptio
- Page 110 and 111: still taste my morning coffee. By t
- Page 112 and 113: PRIVATE NO TRESPASSING. A few clues
- Page 114 and 115: merely a nice person but whose nice
- Page 116 and 117: my question. "The first thing you o
- Page 118 and 119: "What should I do, then? Give me an
- Page 120 and 121: I nodded. "I think the three of us
- Page 122 and 123: we can ask a staff member to buy fo
- Page 124 and 125: "I'm sure I'll be fine." "So, that
- Page 126 and 127: With Naoko gone, I went to sleep on
- Page 128 and 129: weightlessness on the secretion of
- Page 130 and 131: "It's lovely, though," said Naoko.
- Page 132 and 133: never plays it unless I request it.
- Page 136 and 137: "I couldn't get wet," she said in a
- Page 138 and 139: Reiko sat alone on the carpet, play
- Page 140 and 141: She picked up the basketball again,
- Page 142 and 143: it in hot water, taking a few days
- Page 144 and 145: I said I liked him and thought he w
- Page 146 and 147: all this talk about me. You came he
- Page 148 and 149: have negative thoughts about her be
- Page 150 and 151: draw people - or draw me, at least
- Page 152 and 153: her, outside work, or sports. She h
- Page 154 and 155: est side, I'd say he succeeded. His
- Page 156 and 157: anana; if we got lonely, we'd go to
- Page 158 and 159: the window. She had drawn her knees
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- Page 162 and 163: feed and a garden hose. Naoko screw
- Page 164 and 165: "We'll be back before lunch." The t
- Page 166 and 167: used it to make a whistle. The trai
- Page 168 and 169: adios in our rooms, so if I don't c
- Page 170 and 171: "It feels like ancient history," sa
- Page 172 and 173: "Well, it depends how you look at i
- Page 174 and 175: "She was the kind of person who too
- Page 176 and 177: something inside me had died. I jus
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- Page 180 and 181: "Fine," said Reiko. "But if we keep
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laughing. "How many girls has he slept with?"<br />
"It's probably up to 80 now," I said. "But in his case, the higher the<br />
numbers go, the less each individual act seems to mean. Which is<br />
what I think he's trying to accomplish."<br />
"And you call that "stoic'?"<br />
"For him it is."<br />
Naoko thought about my words for a minute. "I think he's a lot sicker<br />
in the head than I am," she said.<br />
"So do I," I said. "But he can put all of his warped qualities into a<br />
logical system. He's brilliant. If you brought him here, he'd be out in<br />
two days. "Oh, sure, I know all that,' he'd say. "I understand<br />
everything you're doing here.' He's that kind of guy. The kind people<br />
respect."<br />
"I guess I'm the opposite of brilliant," said Naoko. "I don't understand<br />
anything they're doing here - any better than I understand myself."<br />
"It's not because you're not smart," I said. "You're normal. I've got<br />
tons of things I don't understand about myself. We're both normal:<br />
ordinary."<br />
Naoko raised her feet to the edge of the sofa and rested her chin on<br />
her knees. "I want to know more about you," she said.<br />
"I'm just an ordinary guy - ordinary family, ordinary education,<br />
ordinary face, ordinary exam results, ordinary thoughts in my head."<br />
"You're such a big Scott Fitzgerald fan ... wasn't he the one who said<br />
you shouldn't trust anybody who calls himself an ordinary man? You<br />
lent me the book!" said Naoko with a mischievous smile.<br />
"True," I said. "But this is no affectation. I really, truly believe deep<br />
down that I'm an ordinary person. Can you find something in me that's<br />
not ordinary?"<br />
"Of course I can!" said Naoko with a hint of impatience. "Don't you<br />
get it? Why do you think I slept with you? Because I was so drunk I<br />
would have slept with anyone?"<br />
"No, of course I don't think that," I said.<br />
134
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