Title: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Author: Haruki Murakami

Type: Fiction

Page Count: 300

Rating: 4.25/5

This book was really quite something, and it was pretty different to all of the other Murakami books that I’ve read, and in a good way. It actually reminded me a little bit of Stoner by John Williams, perhaps because it tells a sort of honest-feeling story about a realistic person. Tazaki was part of a group of five friends, the other four of which all had colours in their names. Then, one day, they kick him out of the group with no real explanation.

As an adult, Tazaki realises that perhaps there’s a little unfinished business there, and so he ends up tracking down his friends to figure out what gives. I’m not going to tell you what happened because you should find that out for yourself, but don’t go thinking that this is a mystery novel. If anything, I guess I’d call it literary fiction, although I’ve never really liked that as a label. It’s just a story, and it’s a cracking one at that.

I think with Murakami, one of the fun things is that I always enjoy reading his work, no matter who translates it. Jay Rubin is my favourite of his translators and it wasn’t Rubin who worked on this one, but it was still fantastic. In fact, I think this is one of my favourites of his, and it’s got me pretty stoked about reading some more of Murakami’s stuff. Finally, I should give a shoutout to fellow BookTuber and author Charles Heathcote, who was good enough to send me this. It’s a beautiful edition too, and all in all just a joy.

Click here to buy Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage.