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Cover of Norwegian Wood by 村上春樹

Norwegian Wood — Audiobook

11.5est. listening hrs
3.9★121 ratings
Romancegenre
Free with trial

The instrumentWhen will you finish it?

Based on 11.5 hours of listening (estimated).

Days to finish Norwegian Wood at common listening paces
Your paceYou'll finish in
30 min / day23 days
1 hour / day12 days
2 hours / day6 days
1 hour / day at 1.5×8 days

What our data says

  • At 11.5 hours (estimated), it runs longer than 76% of the romance audiobooks we measured.
  • That's 28% longer than the average romance audiobook (9 hrs across 819 titles in our dataset).

Computed from romance audiobooks in The Books Insider dataset; listening time estimated from page count.

Who is this for?

Best for romance listeners who want a central love story — a solid week of commutes at 11.5 hours (estimated).

About the book

As his plane lands at a European airport, thirty-seven-year-old Toru Watanabe casually hears an old Beatles song. Suddenly, the music transports him back to his youth, to the turbulent Tokyo of the late sixties. He then remembers, with melancholy and unease, the unstable and mysterious Naoko, the girlfriend of his best—and only—friend from adolescence, Kizuki, and how Kizuki's suicide distanced them for a year until they reunited at university. There, they began an intimate relationship, which was soon cut short by Naoko’s fragile mental health, leading to her admission to a rest center. Shortly afterward, Watanabe fell in love with Midori, a lively and determined young woman. Indecisive and plagued by fears, Watanabe experienced only bewilderment and disillusionment in the very areas where everything was supposed to make sense: sex, love, and death.

Listen to Norwegian Wood free

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Questions listeners ask

How long is the Norwegian Wood audiobook?

Norwegian Wood runs about 11.5 hours — our estimate from its 389 pages at a typical narration pace. At 1.5× speed that drops to roughly 7.7 hours.

Can I listen to Norwegian Wood free?

Yes — with the audiobooks.com free trial. Start the trial, get Norwegian Wood included, and cancel anytime; the trial stays free.

Is Norwegian Wood worth listening to at 1.5× speed?

At 1.5× you'd finish in about 7.7 hours — saving 3.8 hours. Most listeners adjust to 1.25–1.5× within a chapter or two.

When was Norwegian Wood first published?

Norwegian Wood by 村上春樹 was first published in 1987.