Literary fiction · Similar reads
Books like Norwegian Wood
The best books like Norwegian Wood are The Bell Jar, Siddhartha, and Steppenwolf. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami is about grief and loss, coming of age, mental illness. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- The Bell Jar
01
Sylvia Plath · Memoir
The Bell Jar is Sylvia Plath's only novel, published in January 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, one month before Plath's death.
Both dig into mental illness.
Read the summary → - Siddhartha
02
Hermann Hesse · Religion & Spirituality
Siddhartha is Hermann Hesse's 1922 novel of spiritual seeking, written at a time when Hesse was deeply studying Buddhist and Hindu texts.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - Steppenwolf
03
Hermann Hesse · Philosophy
Steppenwolf is Hermann Hesse's most psychologically intense and formally inventive novel, published in 1927 at a time of personal crisis.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
04
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Dave Eggers · Memoir
Dave Eggers's debut memoir about losing both parents to cancer within five weeks and raising his younger brother Toph while trying to start a literary magazine in San Francisco in the mid-1990s arrived in 2000 with unusual self-consciousness about its own nature.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Alchemist
05
Paulo Coelho · Religion & Spirituality
The Alchemist is a Brazilian novel first published in 1988 and translated into 80 languages, making it one of the most translated books in history.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Marriage Plot
06
Jeffrey Eugenides · Literary fiction
Madeleine Hanna graduates from Brown University in 1982 and is in love with two very different men: Leonard Bankhead, brilliant and bipolar, and Mitchell Grammaticus, a religious studies major searching for something larger than himself.
Shares coming of age and mental illness with Norwegian Wood.
Read the summary → - In Search of Lost Time
07
Marcel Proust · Literary fiction
In Search of Lost Time is a seven-volume novel published between 1913 and 1927 in which the unnamed narrator, looking back from late middle age, attempts to recover a life that has slipped away.
Both dig into memory.
Read the summary → - Kafka on the Shore
08
Haruki Murakami · Literary fiction
Kafka on the Shore runs two parallel narratives that eventually, obliquely, converge.
Both dig into coming of age.
Read the summary → - Lincoln in the Bardo
09
George Saunders · Literary fiction
Lincoln in the Bardo takes place over a single night in February 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln visits the crypt where his eleven-year-old son Willie has just been buried.
Both dig into grief and loss.
Read the summary → - Love in the Time of Cholera
10
Gabriel García Márquez · Literary fiction
Love in the Time of Cholera begins with the death of Dr.
Both dig into memory.
Read the summary → - The Catcher in the Rye
11
J. D. Salinger · Literary fiction
Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from Pencey Prep — his fourth school — and is not ready to go home and tell his parents.
Both dig into grief and loss.
Read the summary → - The Goldfinch
12
Donna Tartt · Literary fiction
The Goldfinch begins with a bombing in a New York museum.
Both dig into grief and loss.
Read the summary →
Books like Norwegian Wood: quick answers
What are the best books like Norwegian Wood?
The best books like Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami are The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with Norwegian Wood, such as grief and loss, coming of age, mental illness.
What should I read after Norwegian Wood?
A natural next read after Norwegian Wood is The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Both dig into mental illness. Other strong choices are Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers.
What books are similar to Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami?
Norwegian Wood centers on grief and loss, coming of age, mental illness. Books with a similar feel include The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
