Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami - Book Review

In Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, protagonist Tsukuru Tazaki is a young man, traumatized by a great loss. When he was 20, Tsukuru was abruptly—and without reason given him—ejected from his group of five friends, composed of three boys and two girls. 

Four members of the group had names that mean colors: ‘red,’ ‘blue,’ ‘white,’ and ‘black.’ But Tsukuru’s name means ‘colorless.’ He is aware of this distinction, and sees himself as someone who contributes no value to the group, and to the world. No wonder his friends abandoned him.

Preoccupied with thoughts about dying and death, Tsukuru is depressed for months after his abandonment. But he is made of stern stuff, and manages to pull himself together. He now manages railroad stations, which has been his dream job ever since he was a child. Still, he is unable to find true meaning and happiness in life, as his troubled past continues haunting him.

When Tsukuru’s girlfriend gives him an ultimatum—to talk to his friends and find out the truth behind why they left him, or she will leave him too—he goes on a pilgrimage, and visits his old friends, one by one.

Will he finally learn the truth, and what will he do when he finds out?

What I Liked:

This story is vintage Murakami: a lost boy—seemingly excessively ordinary, but only to himself—searches for meaning in life. Unlike some of Murakami’s recent works, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is short and simple. It is less than 400 pages long and has minimal parallel universe references than his lengthier, complex works. In fact, his novel is a kind of throwback to Norwegian Wood, my favorite Murakami novel.

There is a difference between Murakami's past works and his latest novel, where Tsukuru receives some kind of closure at the end of the story. Instead of stumbling around and letting life happen to him, Tsukuru makes a strategic, concrete attempt towards finding answers, and he is rewarded by being less lost and the end of his journey. He may even have a plan.

Unfortunately, it is implied that he will likely take his own life if his girlfriend chooses to leave him.

What I Didn’t Like:

Being vintage Murakami is a double-edged blade. Small difference are big ones in Murakami’s case, but I’m still hoping he’ll make the leap towards writing a totally unexpected story, out of his comfort zone of ordinary (but really awesome) lost boys.

Nevertheless, Haruki Murakami books are like Vanilla ice cream (my favorite!) to me. No matter how many same-flavored novels he writes, I'll never get tired of enjoying them, over and over again.

My Rating: