The only major point I can mention is that if you liked the characters in Wind-Up Bird, you'll like them again here. Not that either is a sequel to the other. It's simply that they are so similar, enough so that it's worth mentioning. The narrator, Toru, has the same first name in both books, and is virtually the same character, aged ten years further in one than in the other. May Kasahara in Wind-Up Bird is Midori in Norwegian Wood. Kumiko in Wind-Up Bird is to some extent Naoko in Norwegian Wood. One can consider this a flaw or not, but based on the copyright, if this is a flaw, it's in Wind-Up Bird. I simply read them out of order.
Having said now what I kept thinking throughout the reading, I've concluded that this is still a great book, and well worth the time to read it through.
