Review - Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
I discovered, or rather found out about, the phenomenon that goes by the name Haruki Murakami, a year ago. A friend had written a gorgeous review for his book, '1Q84', and I absolutely had to get it. And get it, I did. 1Q84 is a trilogy. A thousand-page un-put-down-able book that swallows you whole ruthlessly. And you fall.
I fell, too; I fell in love.
I have only read three of Murakami's works of fiction - 1Q84, Kafka on the Shore, and the most recent one - Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage.
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage was first published in Great Britain in 2014 by Harvill Secker. The original came out in 2013 in Japan, published by Bungeishunju Ltd., Tokyo. It is translated into English by Philip Gabriel, like Kafka on the Shore.
Out of the three that I have read, this one is a more tamed down fantasy; almost believable. There are no parallel universes. No lives secretly intertwined. No two moons in the sky. No cat murderers or fish falling from the sky.
There are, however, dreams; and happening ones. Very Murakami, if I might say so.
We follow Tsukuru Tazaki's life from his Sophomore year.
Tsukuru has a group of five friends - two boys and two girls. All of his friends' last names contain a colour. "The two boys' last names were Akamatsu - which means 'red pine' - and Oumi - 'blue sea'; the girls' family names were Shirane -'white root' - and Kurono - 'black field'. Tazaki was the only last name that did not have a colour in its meaning."
They were a very closely knit group of people. They told each other everything. They had unspoken rules that everyone knew, and stuck to. All was well, until one fine day, his friends "announced that they did not want to see him, or talk with him, ever again."
Tsukuru doesn't know what made his friends do it, and he doesn't want to know it.
"Since that day Tsukuru has been floating through life, unable to form intimate connections with anyone. But then he meets Sara, who tells him that the time has come to find out what happened all those years ago."
Whatever I have said so far, about the plot, you know it from the blurb.
Tsukuru has always been fascinated by railway stations. He would sit at stations for hours and watch trains as they slowed down as they neared the platform, pulled up, let passengers get in, get down, and left, like it was the most natural thing that could happen. He dreams of building railway stations.
He moves to Tokyo from his hometown - Nagoya, to attend college. He grows up to become a station planner- sort of.
He meets two other significant people - Haida, a boy from the university, and Sara, someone his acquaintance introduces him to.
Current-day Tsukuru is in his mid-thirties. He is happy with his work. He goes on regular dates with Sara, who is two years older. She tells him, one day, that he needs to find out what really happened all those years ago, or she would have to rethink their relationship. She helps him find the current addresses of his friends. What happens next, read the book to find out (wink!).
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is written in impeccable language. Long, but sensible sentences. Next to none complicated words (I didn't need a dictionary, at least). And yet, it took me four days to finish it. There is something about the way Murakami weaves the story in words so delicately, that you are forced to pause, look up from the book, close it, think about what you read, and then open it again when all of it sinks in.
The pace is just right - not too fast, not too slow. There are no unnecessary, detailed descriptions of rooms, people, buildings, streets. A welcome change after 1Q84.
There is no definite end. You can imagine it, as you would like it.
It is surreal in the most unimaginable way. It is real in the most convincing way.
I fell, too; I fell in love.
I have only read three of Murakami's works of fiction - 1Q84, Kafka on the Shore, and the most recent one - Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage.
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| Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage | 298 pages | Hardbound |
Out of the three that I have read, this one is a more tamed down fantasy; almost believable. There are no parallel universes. No lives secretly intertwined. No two moons in the sky. No cat murderers or fish falling from the sky.
There are, however, dreams; and happening ones. Very Murakami, if I might say so.
We follow Tsukuru Tazaki's life from his Sophomore year.
Tsukuru has a group of five friends - two boys and two girls. All of his friends' last names contain a colour. "The two boys' last names were Akamatsu - which means 'red pine' - and Oumi - 'blue sea'; the girls' family names were Shirane -'white root' - and Kurono - 'black field'. Tazaki was the only last name that did not have a colour in its meaning."
 |
| Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki, extreme right |
They were a very closely knit group of people. They told each other everything. They had unspoken rules that everyone knew, and stuck to. All was well, until one fine day, his friends "announced that they did not want to see him, or talk with him, ever again."
Tsukuru doesn't know what made his friends do it, and he doesn't want to know it.
"Since that day Tsukuru has been floating through life, unable to form intimate connections with anyone. But then he meets Sara, who tells him that the time has come to find out what happened all those years ago."
Whatever I have said so far, about the plot, you know it from the blurb.
Tsukuru has always been fascinated by railway stations. He would sit at stations for hours and watch trains as they slowed down as they neared the platform, pulled up, let passengers get in, get down, and left, like it was the most natural thing that could happen. He dreams of building railway stations.
He moves to Tokyo from his hometown - Nagoya, to attend college. He grows up to become a station planner- sort of.
He meets two other significant people - Haida, a boy from the university, and Sara, someone his acquaintance introduces him to.
Current-day Tsukuru is in his mid-thirties. He is happy with his work. He goes on regular dates with Sara, who is two years older. She tells him, one day, that he needs to find out what really happened all those years ago, or she would have to rethink their relationship. She helps him find the current addresses of his friends. What happens next, read the book to find out (wink!).
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is written in impeccable language. Long, but sensible sentences. Next to none complicated words (I didn't need a dictionary, at least). And yet, it took me four days to finish it. There is something about the way Murakami weaves the story in words so delicately, that you are forced to pause, look up from the book, close it, think about what you read, and then open it again when all of it sinks in.
The pace is just right - not too fast, not too slow. There are no unnecessary, detailed descriptions of rooms, people, buildings, streets. A welcome change after 1Q84.
There is no definite end. You can imagine it, as you would like it.
It is surreal in the most unimaginable way. It is real in the most convincing way.
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