Colorful

A Novel

By: Eto Mori

Narrated by: Brian Nishii

A beloved and best-selling classic in Japan, this groundbreaking tale of a dead soul who gets a second chance is perfect for listeners of The Midnight Library.

“Congratulations, you’ve won the lottery!” shouts the angel Prapura to a formless soul. The soul hasn’t been kicked out of the cycle of rebirth just yet - he’s been given a second chance. He must recall the biggest mistake of his past life while on "homestay" in the body of 14-year-old Makoto Kobayashi, who has just committed suicide. It looks like Makoto doesn’t have a single friend, and his family don’t seem to care about him at all. But as the soul begins to live Makoto’s life on his own terms, he grows closer to the family and the people around him and sees their true colors more clearly, shedding light on Makoto’s misunderstandings.

Since its initial release more than 20 years ago, Colorful has become a part of the literary canon, not only in Japan - where it has sold more than a million copies - but around the world, having been translated into several different languages. Now, Eto Mori’s beloved classic is finally available in English.

©1998 by Eto Mori. All rights reserved. English translation © 2021 by Jocelyne Allen (P)2021 by Blackstone Publishing

A sweet treasure

What a sweet treasure to read, and while I do not speak or read Japanese, I could tell from a few of the words chosen, what a great English translation it is. Binged this audio book in just short of one sitting and wish it never ended.