Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

A novel

By: Haruki Murakami, Philip Gabriel - translator

Narrated by: Bruce Locke

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • One of the most revered voices in literature today gives us a story of love, friend­ship, and heartbreak for the ages.

“Mesmerizing, immersive, hallucinogenic.”—Entertainment Weekly

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage 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.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Financial Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Slate, Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, BookPage

*Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) - "Le mal du pays" by Franz Liszt, performed by Peter Mendelsund. Recorded by Charles Myers Recording Studio, Manhattan School of Music, The Gordon K. and Harriet Greenfield Hall. Kevin Boutote, Recording Engineer.

Vintage Murakami, Unbearable narration

The fake Japanese accents and the fake Finnish one were acid on the ears. I kept hoping for the dialogue to end so the narrator would go back to a normal accent. Story, characters convey the usual sense of wonder and nostalgia we get from Murakami.

Engaging and visual

Even though the story was engaging, some questions left unanswered. However the dreams were depicted flawlessly and the interpretation of them enriched the misery if the story.

Amazing

Loved the book. Great story as usual rider really knows how to engage his audiences. A master writer and recommend all his books.

Best novel so far

This is my second novel from Murakami, but between this and Norwegian Wood, I would say this is my favorite. I love the style, as it almost feels as if it’s meant to be a first person narrative, despite being 3rd person.
The narration did throw me off a little bit in the beginning with the accents, but I grew used to it. When the narrator is just telling the story, I found to have really liked it.

Fantastic writing and narration. Yet...

I found this book by my favorite novelist different than his previous: dark, slow, and melancholic in tone. Murakami's prose is unmatched and truly stands on a league of its own. While I loved the narration and the fluid, descriptive prose, I would have wished the plot to develop more. Certain events that initially seemed of great importance got lost within the plot. Not his best work, but definitely better than most of his contemporaries.