Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
A novel
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4.1 • 684 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A New York Times #1 Bestseller
A New York Times and Washington Post notable book, and one of the Financial Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Slate, Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, and BookPage's best books of the year
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is the long-awaited new novel—a book that sold more than a million copies the first week it went on sale in Japan—from the award-winning, internationally best-selling author Haruki Murakami.
Here he gives us the remarkable story of Tsukuru Tazaki, a young man haunted by a great loss; of dreams and nightmares that have unintended consequences for the world around us; and of a journey into the past that is necessary to mend the present. It is a story of love, friendship, and heartbreak for the ages.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Internationally bestselling author Haruki Murakami’s writing has a hypnotic quality to it, drawing you into a story shrouded in mystery with seemingly effortless grace. During his second year at university, Tsukuru Tazaki was abruptly and inexplicably ostracized by his tight-knit group of high school friends. Years later, still haunted by this betrayal, the solitary engineer—who designs train stations for a living—goes in search of the truth. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is another stunningly original and beautiful novel by the Japanese master.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Murakami's (1Q84) latest novel, which sold more than a million copies during its first week on sale in Japan, is a return to the mood and subject matter of the acclaimed writer's earlier work. Living a simple, quotidian life as a train station engineer, Tsukuru is compelled to reexamine his past after a girlfriend suggests he reconnect with a group of friends from high school. A tight-knit fivesome for years, the group suddenly alienated Tsukuru under mysterious circumstances when he was in college. For months after the break, not knowing what had gone wrong, he became obsessed with death and slowly lost his sense of self: "I've always seen myself as an empty person, lacking color and identity. Maybe that was my role in the group. To be empty." Feeling his life will only progress if he can tie up those emotional loose ends, Tsukuru journeys through Japan and into Europe to meet with the members of the group and unravel what really happened 16 years before. The result is a vintage Murakami struggle of coming to terms with buried emotions and missed opportunities, in which intentions and pent up desires can seemingly transcend time and space to bring both solace and desolation.
Customer Reviews
Murakami never disappoints
Such a good read and short too! I just wish the ending gave more closure I was so curious to know how it ended and it was very open ended
Promising Start, Disappointing Finish
I have not read any of Murakami’s works in the past, but seeing as this was #1 on the NYTimes Bestseller list, I thought I would download the sample and give it a try. While the opening chapter was interesting enough that I ended up purchasing the whole book, the plot started to unravel rather quickly the more I read which lead me to inevitably regret the purchase.
Without spoiling too much, the gist of the story is one man’s journey to find the answer as to why his four closest friends cut off all relations with him during their college years. While the premise is intriguing, the author’s resolutions for many of the story’s questions seem unbelievable and almost flat out ridiculous. The ending left me with more questions than answers making the whole story feel incomplete. For the most part many of the characters are very unlikeable and the ones that seem to be genuine are sadly underdeveloped.
I don’t know about the author’s other works, but I wish someone had told me how graphic and erotic this novel was! There was some parts where I thought I was reading from an adult magazine. I know sex attracts readers, but this was largely unnecessary and flat out weird…
Definitely if I had to do it all over again, I would not purchase this book. Very disappointed.
Full of colors!
I was given time to reflect, & the author intentionally makes you feel like you're living someone else's life with every passing page. At least I learned a thing or two about trains!