Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years Of Pilgrimage is a hell of a title by Haruki Murakami. This is the first novel by Murakami I have read. I was going to start with Norwegian Wood but ended up choosing this one after reading Murakami’s nonfiction book Novelist as a Vocation where he mentions this book as one he is particularly proud of (though I can’t recall the details).

The book itself is a quick read, or at least I read it quickly, because of the mystery-like nature of the story. The story follows Tsukuru Tazaki who is in his mid-thirties and meets a woman he thinks may be one he can fall in love with. They are dating and she convinces him to revisit his past so he can move past whatever is holding him back. The past in question is when his extremely close group of friends inexplicably cut him out of the group shortly after they all begin attending universities. This event deeply impacted Tsukuru and his expectation of relationships (both intimate and otherwise), and he has felt unable to develop or maintain relationships since this event.

The mystery of discovering why Tsukuru was cut off is intriguing and keeps the story moving at a quick pace. There are a few unresolved questions, not directly tied to him being cut off from his group of friends, that I felt should/could have been addressed but never were. The first involves a character named Haida but I won’t go into any details to avoid potential spoilers. The second, also no details, does not impact the overall story but might bug some people that no additional information is provided especially since it is indirectly related to the cause of him being cut off from the group. Keeping in mind that this entire story is about Tsukuru himself, the reader doesn’t need this information because his story does wrap everything up well, but I’m sure some readers want the answers to these questions involving other characters.

I have since started Norwegian Wood and it didn’t catch my interest as quickly as this book has, but I am still early one and will see how it goes. I may read more of Murakami’s works if I continue to get lost in his storytelling as so many people have. I’ve been meaning to read his work for a long time and have now finally gotten around to it. I have a copy of Kafka On The Shore as well. I think I do enjoy his writing style and I get why his books are well received. I’m going to see how these next few work out and see if I enjoy his work as much as I do the works of my favorite authors.

Happy Reading.