Favorite Excerpts from Norwegian Wood

"But you, well, you're special to me. When I'm with you I feel something is just right. I believe in you. I like you. I don't want to let you go."


The lowering of the flag at dusk was carried out with the same ceremonial reverence, but in reverse. Down the banner would come and find its place int he box. The national flag does not fly at night.
 I did not know why the flag had to be taken down at night. The nation continued to exist after dark, and plenty of people worked the whole night through...Or maybe it didn't matter all that much and nobody really cared- aside from me. Not that I really cared, either. It was just something that happened to cross my mind. 


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 classmates and they wanted to eat someplace expensive. It's a miserable way to live. 


Probably because I like her so much. I think my emotions get in the way and I can't see her clearly. I mean, I really like her. But aside from that, she has a bunch of different problems that are all tangled up, so it's hard to unravel any one of them. It may take a very long time to undo them all, or something could trigger them to come unraveled all at once. It's kind of like that. Which is why I can't be sure about her. 


The most important thing is not to let yourself get impatient... don't get impatient. Even if things are so tangled up you can't do anything, don't get desperate or blow a fuse and start yanking on one particular thread before it's ready to come undone. You have to figure it's going to be a long process and that you'll work on things slowly, one at a time. 


I was going to be a concert pianist. I had talent, and people recognized it and made a fuss over me while I was growing up. I won competitions and had top grades in the conservatory, and I was set to study in Germany after graduation. Not a cloud in the horizon. Everything worked out perfectly, and when it didn't there was always somebody to fix it. But then one day something happened, and it all blew apart... But the pain I felt was excruciating. It was as if my life had ended. Here I was in my early twenties and the best part of my life had ended. Do you see ow terrible that would be? I had had my hands on such potential, and I woke up one day and all of it was gone. No one would applaud me, no one would make a big fuss over me, no one would tell me how wonderful I was. I spent day after day in the house teaching neighborhood children Beyer exercises and sonatinas. I felt so miserable, I cried all the time. To think what I missed! I would hear about people who were far less talented that I was taking second place in a competition or holding a recital in such-and-such a hall, and the tears would pour out of me. 


I wrote a huge number of letters that spring: one a week to Naoko, several to Reiko, and several more to Midori. I wrote letters in the classroom, I wrote letters at my desk at home with Seagull in my lap, I wrote letters at empty tables during my breaks at the Italian restaurant. It was as if I were writing letters to hold together the pieces of my crumbling life.