- gripnounChapter 1 →
A powerful, lasting hold that something has over a person's mind or emotions, making it impossible to move on or forget.
“Thirty-seven years old, and I was still in the grip of that October meadow.”
- unbearablyadverbChapter 1 →
So intensely painful or overwhelming that it feels impossible to endure even for a moment.
“my chest was suddenly, almost unbearably tight, and I felt a stinging behind my eyes.”
- stingingnounChapter 1 →
A sharp, prickling sensation, used here to describe the feeling behind the eyes just before tears come.
“I felt a stinging behind my eyes.”
- bring it backphraseChapter 1 →
To successfully recall or reconstruct a memory in the mind; to make a past image or feeling return clearly.
“I tried hard to think of her face, but I couldn't bring it back.”
- get myself togetherphraseChapter 2 →
To regain emotional stability and mental composure after a period of distress or confusion.
“I need to go somewhere quiet and get myself together.”
- put togetherphraseChapter 3 →
Organized or structured in a particular way; refers here to the hidden logic or order underlying how reality works.
“I felt it had something to do with the way the world is put together.”
- avoidedverbChapter 3 →
Deliberately stayed away from a topic in conversation, choosing never to bring it up because it was too painful.
“That was the one subject we avoided.”
- from a great distancephraseChapter 3 →
Feeling emotionally detached from life, as though observing events as a remote, uninvolved outsider rather than a participant.
“I felt as if I were watching the world from a great distance.”
- unconsciouslyadverbChapter 4 →
Without being aware of what one is doing; acting in a way that causes harm without any deliberate intention.
“What a terrible thing it is to wound someone you really care for — and to do it so unconsciously.”
- woundverbChapter 4 →
To hurt someone emotionally, causing deep pain or damage to their feelings, not a physical injury.
“What a terrible thing it is to wound someone you really care for — and to do it so unconsciously.”
- losing my gripphraseChapter 5 →
Gradually losing control over one's own mind, emotions, or sense of reality; feeling oneself slipping into instability.
“I'm losing my grip on things. I can feel it happening. That's why I'm here.”
- go out of my wayphraseChapter 6 →
To make a special or deliberate effort to do something beyond what is required or natural.
“I don't go out of my way to make friends, that's all.”
- leads tophraseChapter 7 →
Results in or causes a particular outcome, especially an unwanted or painful one.
“I don't go out of my way to make friends, that's all. It just leads to disappointment.”
- bundle of contradictionsphraseChapter 8 →
A person whose beliefs, feelings, or actions are inconsistent and often directly oppose each other, making them hard to understand.
“I am a flawed human being—a bundle of contradictions—and what I do I do with no guarantee of consistency.”
- consistencynounChapter 8 →
The quality of always behaving or thinking in the same reliable way; here, the narrator admits he cannot promise his actions will always match each other.
“what I do I do with no guarantee of consistency.”
- hollowadjectiveChapter 9 →
Empty and echoing inside; used to describe a sadness that feels like a void or absence rather than a sharp pain.
“a hollow, ringing sadness.”
- ringingadjectiveChapter 9 →
Resonating or reverberating, as if a sound keeps echoing; here it describes a sadness that persists and vibrates inside the chest.
“a hollow, ringing sadness.”
- somewhere elsephraseChapter 9 →
Mentally or emotionally absent, with one's thoughts and attention in another place rather than the present moment.
“You're always somewhere else, aren't you?”
- get my fillphraseChapter 10 →
To receive enough of something to feel fully satisfied, to the point where one could not want any more.
“I wanted to know what it was like to get my fill of it—to be fed so much love I couldn't take any more.”
- pane of glassphraseChapter 10 →
A flat sheet of glass in a window; used here as an image for the invisible barrier that separates the narrator from the world around him.
“I felt as if I were looking at a different world through a thick pane of glass.”
- vastadjectiveChapter 11 →
Extremely large and wide, stretching far in every direction with no visible end or boundary.
“I was in the middle of a vast plain, and I couldn't see anything around me.”
- plainnounChapter 11 →
A large, flat, open area of land with no hills, trees, or other features; used here as an image of total emptiness and disorientation.
“I was in the middle of a vast plain, and I couldn't see anything around me.”
- horizonnounChapter 11 →
The line in the distance where the earth and sky appear to meet; its absence here intensifies the feeling of being lost with no direction.
“There was no sun, no shadow, no horizon. Just me, standing there, unable to move.”
- featurelessadjectiveChapter 12 →
Having no distinguishing marks, shapes, or landmarks; completely blank and uniform in appearance.
“just the flat, featureless expanse stretching out in every direction to the horizon.”
- expansenounChapter 12 →
A wide, open, unbroken stretch of space or land extending far in all directions.
“just the flat, featureless expanse stretching out in every direction to the horizon.”
Norwegian WoodNovel by Haruki Murakami