Norwegian Wood #ATOZCHALLENGE

I am trying to catch up to the A to Z challenge. I missed a couple of days because I was travelling to home. Last weekend, I spent an entire day reading Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. 

Now, I have heard a lot of people talk about Murakami, but somehow missed reading it until now. I have seen numerous lines/quotes beautifully written and expressed on love, loss and life by Murakami. So, my expectations were riding high when I started the book. 

The story is about a boy who loses his best friend to suicide, falls in love with his best friend's girl, struggles to overcome the depression and meets another lively girl who breezes life into his mundane existence. The book is absolutely beautiful, filled with very memorable lines. But if you ask me if I will recommend it to anyone, my answer would be 'No'. The book is so brilliantly written that depression flows from the pages of the book into the person reading it. You can feel the intense pain, confusion and feelings that the characters of the book experience through the words. It would probably leave you sapped of your energy.

These are my most favorite lines from the book, mainly because of the optimism. It shone like a lone star on a dark, dark night. 

You know, they've got these chocolate assortments, and you like some but you don't like others? And you eat all the ones you like, and the only ones left are the ones you don't like as much? I always think about that when something painful comes up. Now I just have to push these off and everything will be okay. Life is a box of chocolates.

Indeed, life is a box of chocolates !