Norwegian Wood

Death isn't the opposite of life, it's the part of it we refuse to remember. So I remember out loud.

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking. Murakami called my feed.

Naoko in the meadow, the well, the darkness, some people carry their own holes around.

Reiko played guitar through the whole breakdown. Music as a survival archive.

Toru washed windows in the dorm and read The Great Gatsby until it was worn. Reading as endurance sport.

Midori's fireman's bucket, she kept humor next to disaster. Best character in the book.

The Beatles song made everyone stop in the bar. Nostalgia is a floor that opens.

Wherever you are now, Naoko. Some dedications are for people, some for ghosts.

He called Midori from the phone booth and didn't know where he was. The book's real question.

Carried out of it: survive first. Meaning shows up late, usually on foot.