Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Summary

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage from the award-winning, internationally best-selling author Haruki Murakami is the remarkable story of 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. Here Haruki Murakami—one of the most revered voices in literature today—gives us a story of love, friend­ship, and heartbreak for the ages.

Haruki Murakami, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (Published August 12th 2014 by Knopf Publishing Group (first published 2013) - 386 pages.

Personal Opinion

I was intrigued by the popularity of the award winning and very prolific Japanese writer Haruki Murakami and decided it was time for me to "check him out". I know reading just one of his books, won't do the trick, but at least it is a start.  Here are a few thoughts on my experience:

After reading just a few pages, I was hesitant this was the kind of book I was going to like. I wasn't sure what to think of the plane and simple language (perhaps a product of the translation) and the themes of adolescent friendship, anguish, love and desolation (I want to kill myself) that were reminiscent of young adult literature with a je ne sais quoi that brought to mind, at first, author Nicholas Sparks. Unjustly, I may say.

As the plot evolves and the colorless, melancholic, and not exactly Mr. personality, Tsukuru Tazaki, starts showing more depth and a complex mix of fantasy and reality intertwines, my opinion began to slowly change.  The bizarre internal fantasies and his quest for closure and human connection take the reader to unexpected places. The tension created by his suppressed sexual desires, presented as dreams, and the intricate descriptions of certain external elements that move him, such as classical music (Le mal du pays, Franz Listz), willow trees, railroad stations, and even the act of swimming in a pool, all contributed to an interesting read with some psychological insights into human nature. Our dreams and longing for interaction and connection.

Some mysteries are solved, others lingered. The novel ends ambiguously, but perhaps Tsukuru has grown and learned a few lessons and a better future lays ahead for him and Sara, or not. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage not only has an interesting and inviting title, but the plot and narrative style grows and stays with you.

Kei Akamatsu, Mister Red
Yoshio Oumi, Mister Blue
Yuzuki Shirane, Miss White
Eri Kurono, Miss Black
Tsukuru Tazaki and Sara

My score (1-5):

   

About the Author:

Haruki Murakami, born January 12, 1949 is a contemporary Japanese writer. His books and stories have been bestsellers in Japan as well as internationally, with his work being translated into 50 languages and selling millions of copies outside his native country.

His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered critical acclaim and numerous awards, both in Japan and internationally, including the World Fantasy Award (2006) and the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award (2006), while his oeuvre received among others the Franz Kafka Prize (2006) and the Jerusalem Prize (2009). Murakami's most notable works include A Wild Sheep Chase (1982), Norwegian Wood (1987), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994-1995), Kafka on the Shore (2002), and 1Q84 (2009–2010). He has also translated a number of English works into Japanese, from Raymond Carver to J. D. Salinger.

Murakami's fiction, still criticized by Japan's literary establishment as un-Japanese, was influenced by Western writers from Chandler to Vonnegut by way of Brautigan. It is frequently surrealistic and melancholic or fatalistic, marked by a Kafkaesque rendition of the "recurrent themes of alienation and loneliness" he weaves into his narratives. He is also considered an important figure in postmodern literature. Steven Poole of The Guardian praised Murakami as "among the world's greatest living novelists" for his works and achievements.

Murakami was born in Japan during the post–World War II baby boom. Although born in Kyoto, he spent his youth in Shukugawa (Nishinomiya), Ashiya and Kobe. His father was the son of a Buddhist priest, and his mother the daughter of an Osaka merchant. Both taught Japanese literature.

Since childhood, Murakami similarly to Kōbō Abe has been heavily influenced by Western culture, particularly Western as well as Russian music and literature. He grew up reading a wide range of works by European and American writers, such as Franz Kafka, Gustave Flaubert, Charles Dickens, Kurt Vonnegut, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Richard Brautigan and Jack Kerouac. These Western influences distinguish Murakami from the majority of other Japanese writers.

Murakami studied drama at Waseda University in Tokyo, where he met his wife, Yoko. His first job was at a record store, much like Toru Watanabe, the narrator of Norwegian Wood. Shortly before finishing his studies, Murakami opened a coffeehouse and jazz bar, the Peter Cat, in Kokubunji, Tokyo, which he ran with his wife from 1974 to 1981—again, not unlike the protagonist in his later novel South of the Border, West of the Sun.

Murakami is a serious marathon runner and triathlon enthusiast, though he did not start running until he was 33 years old. On June 23, 1996, he completed his first ultra marathon, a 100-kilometer race around Lake Saroma in Hokkaido, Japan. He discusses his relationship with running in his 2008 memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

Source: Wikipedia