murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood
murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood murakami, haruki - Norwegian wood
expensive school trips. For instance, if we went to Kyoto, they'd put us up in a first-class inn and serve us tea ceremony food on lacquer tables, and they'd take us once a year to the most expensive hotel in Tokyo to study table manners. I mean, this was no ordinary school. Out of 160 girls in my class, I was the only one from a middle-class neighbourhood like Toshima. I looked at the school register once to see where the others lived, and every single one of them was from a rich area. Well, no, there was one girl from way out in Chiba with the farmers, so I got kind of friendly with her. And she was really nice. She invited me to her house, though she apologized for how far I'd have to travel to get there. I went and it was incredible, this giant piece of land you'd have to walk 15 minutes to get around. It had this amazing garden and two dogs like compact cars they fed steaks to. But still, this girl felt embarrassed about living out in Chiba. This is a girl who would be driven to school in a Mercedes Benz if she was late! By a chauffeur! Like right out of the Green Hornet: the hat, the white gloves, the whole deal. And still she had this inferiority complex. Can you believe it?" I shook my head. "I was the only one in the whole school who lived in a place like Kita- Otsuka Toshima. And under "parent's profession' it said "bookshop owner'. Everybody in my class thought that was so neat: "Oh, you're so lucky, you can read any book you like' and stuff. Of course, they were thinking of some monster bookshop like Kinokuniya. They could never have imagined the poor, little Kobayashi Bookshop. The door creaks open and you see nothing but magazines. The steady sellers are the women's glossies with illustrated pull-out sections on the latest sexual techniques. The local housewives buy them and sit at the kitchen table reading them from cover to cover, and give 'em a try when their husbands get home. And they've got the most incredible positions! Is this what housewives have on their minds all day? The comics are the other big-seller: Magazine, Sunday, Jump. And of 74
course the weeklies. So this "bookshop' is almost all magazines. Oh, there are a few books, paperbacks, mysteries and swashbucklers and romances. That's all that sells. And How-To books: how to win at Go, how to raise bonsai, how to give wedding speeches, how to have sex, how to stop smoking, you name it. We even sell writing supplies - stacks of ballpoint pens and pencils and notebooks next to the till. But that's it. No War and Peace, no Kenzaburo Oe, no Catcher in the Rye. That's the Kobayashi Bookshop. That's how "lucky' I am. Do you think I'm lucky?" "I can just see the place." "You know what I mean. Everybody in the neighbourhood comes there, some of them for years, and we deliver. It's a good business, more than enough to support a family of four; no debts, two daughters in college, but that's it. Nothing to spare for extras. They should never have sent me to a school like that. It was a recipe for heartache. I had to listen to them grumble to me every time the school asked for a contribution, and I was always scared to death I'd run out of money if I went out with my school friends and they wanted to eat somewhere expensive. It's a miserable way to live. Is your family rich?" "My family? No, my parents are absolutely ordinary working people, not rich, not poor. I know it's not easy for them to send me to a private university in Tokyo, but there's just me, so it's not that big a deal. They don't give me much to live on, so I work part-time. We live in a typical house with a little garden and our car is a Toyota Corolla." "What's your job like?" "I work in a Shinjuku record shop three nights a week. It's easy. I just sit there and mind the shop." "You're joking?" said Midori. "I don't know, just looking at you I sort of assumed you'd never been hard up." "It's true. I have never been hard up. Not that I have tons of money, either. I'm like most people." "Well, "most people' in my school were rich," said Midori, palms 75
- Page 24 and 25: Almost a year had gone by since I h
- Page 26 and 27: eally wouldn't be any bother to you
- Page 28 and 29: occupying that central position. Tr
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- Page 32 and 33: Naoko called me the following Satur
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- Page 36 and 37: answers they wanted. And so I went
- Page 38 and 39: hesitation. "Not exactly fashionabl
- Page 40 and 41: he said. "Swallowed 'em whole." "Wh
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- Page 44 and 45: That winter I found a part-time job
- Page 46 and 47: arrived at Naoko's room the cake wa
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- Page 50 and 51: I picked up my clothes and dressed.
- Page 52 and 53: at the end I added: Waiting for you
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- Page 56 and 57: Maybe this firefly was on the verge
- Page 58 and 59: During the summer holidays the univ
- Page 60 and 61: dust covered his desk and radio. Hi
- Page 62 and 63: she said. "I had a perm this summer
- Page 64 and 65: omantic company? New women in far-o
- Page 66 and 67: lecture. When it was over I went to
- Page 68 and 69: Watanabe, I have this feeling like,
- Page 70 and 71: problems far more urgent and releva
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- Page 80 and 81: the shutter and stepped a few paces
- Page 82 and 83: "Thanks," I said. It suddenly dawne
- Page 84 and 85: I nodded, swallowing a mouthful of
- Page 86 and 87: "You're very clear about what you l
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- Page 90 and 91: unning away." "Even if this place b
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- Page 94 and 95: different from other people's. I'm
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- 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
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- Page 112 and 113: PRIVATE NO TRESPASSING. A few clues
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- Page 116 and 117: my question. "The first thing you o
- Page 118 and 119: "What should I do, then? Give me an
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- Page 122 and 123: we can ask a staff member to buy fo
course the weeklies. So this "bookshop' is almost all magazines. Oh,<br />
there are a few books, paperbacks, mysteries and swashbucklers and<br />
romances. That's all that sells. And How-To books: how to win at Go,<br />
how to raise bonsai, how to give wedding speeches, how to have sex,<br />
how to stop smoking, you name it. We even sell writing supplies -<br />
stacks of ballpoint pens and pencils and notebooks next to the till. But<br />
that's it. No War and Peace, no Kenzaburo Oe, no Catcher in the Rye.<br />
That's the Kobayashi Bookshop. That's how "lucky' I am. Do you<br />
think I'm lucky?"<br />
"I can just see the place."<br />
"You know what I mean. Everybody in the neighbourhood comes<br />
there, some of them for years, and we deliver. It's a good business,<br />
more than enough to support a family of four; no debts, two daughters<br />
in college, but that's it. Nothing to spare for extras. They should never<br />
have sent me to a school like that. It was a recipe for heartache. I had<br />
to listen to them grumble to me every time the school asked for a<br />
contribution, and I was always scared to death I'd run out of money if<br />
I went out with my school friends and they wanted to eat somewhere<br />
expensive. It's a miserable way to live. Is your family rich?"<br />
"My family? No, my parents are absolutely ordinary working people,<br />
not rich, not poor. I know it's not easy for them to send me to a private<br />
university in Tokyo, but there's just me, so it's not that big a deal.<br />
They don't give me much to live on, so I work part-time. We live in a<br />
typical house with a little garden and our car is a Toyota Corolla."<br />
"What's your job like?"<br />
"I work in a Shinjuku record shop three nights a week. It's easy. I just<br />
sit there and mind the shop."<br />
"You're joking?" said Midori. "I don't know, just looking at you I sort<br />
of assumed you'd never been hard up."<br />
"It's true. I have never been hard up. Not that I have tons of money,<br />
either. I'm like most people."<br />
"Well, "most people' in my school were rich," said Midori, palms<br />
75
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