Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami (Vintage)
Haruki Murakami is one of the most well-known writers in Japan and internationally. His books have been translated into over fifty languages and has gone on to become bestsellers in his home country and abroad. He has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature but hasn’t won it...yet. He has won many other awards including the World Fantasy Award, the Franz Kafka Prize and the Jerusalem Prize.
In this story, set in Nagoya in contemporary Japan, Tsukuru Tazaki thinks about his four closest friends he had in high school. Two boys and two girls. It was by coincidence that his friend’s names all contained a color in their name. The boys’ last names were Akamatsu which translates to “Red Pine” and Oumi which translates to “blue sea”. The girls’ last names were Shirane which translates to “white root” and Kurono which translates to “black field”. Tazaki was the only name that didn’t have a color in its meaning It wasn’t long before the friends used colors as their nicknames - Aka (red) and Ao (blue) and the girls were Shiro (white) and Kuro (black).
The story opens with Tsukuru thinking about death and ending his life. He has been having these thoughts since July of his sophomore year at college and for five months that’s all he could think about. Although, he constantly thought of death, he never considered committing suicide. However, the question remains is why has Tsukuru reached this level of depression.
It all goes back to his four friends in high school. They all come from similar backgrounds and the five friends were all classmates at the same high school in a suburb of Nagoya. During summer vacation of the first year of high school they all did volunteer work at the same place and became fast friends. The volunteer work started as a social studies assignment but even after the first summer ended, the five friends continued to their volunteer services. They also hung out with each other going hiking together, playing tennis or just hung out some place and talked for hours on end. Things seemed ideal and all five hoped their friendship would continue after graduating high school.
So what led Tsukuru to his current situation? Tsukuru was the only one of the five friends to leave Nagoya after graduating high school. He went to Tokyo to study engineering because it was his dream to build railway stations. He would meet up with everybody when he returned during the holidays. Then one day, his four closest friends said that they did not want to see him or talk with him, ever again. No reason, no explanation. He was just cut off from group just like that.
Since that day, Tsukuru finds it difficult to have any long-lasting relationships or any connections with anyone. Until he meets a woman named Sara. It is Sara who says it’s time for Tsukuru to confront his friends and find out the truth about what happened that day and why they treated him as they did. It has been sixteen years since he has spoken to any of them but he sets out on a journey to clear his mind once and for all. He may not like what he finds but it is something he is determined to do.
You cannot help but be taken in my Tsukuru’s predicament and I find myself also wanting to find out the truth. This is one of the books that is hard to put down. Part mystery, part romance and definitely a journey of self-discovery. You may see your friends in another light and ask yourself, what would you do if you were in Tsukuru’s shoes. ~Ernie Hoyt