Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage

A novel

By: Haruki Murakami, Philip Gabriel - translator

Narrated by: Bruce Locke

Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

The new novel - a book that sold more than a million copies the first week it went on sale in Japan - from the internationally acclaimed author, his first since IQ84.

Here he gives us the remarkable story of Tsukuru Tazaki, 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. It is a story of love, friendship, and heartbreak for the ages.

©2014 Haruki Murakami (P)2014 Random House Audio

narrated with Japanese accent?

Why one would choose to narrate this book with a fake Japanese accent truely baffles me.

fantastic book - slightly racist reading.

One of my favourite novels ever; unfortunately, the reader read the characters' dialogue as if they were struggling to speak English. They are Japanese people speaking Japanese. They shouldn't sound like they are struggling to form sentences. It took me out of the sharp dialogue and took me hours to get used to. What I thought would be a cool way to revisit one of the best books I've read became a lesson in patience and I was quite uncomfortable.

Boring novel, terrible reading

This is the worst Murakami novel that I’ve ever read. I admit to being a Murakami fan and have for example read Kafka on the shore four times. That is a wonderful, daring, deep novel. By contrast this is a colorless story and the reading is almost racist. I hate the way the reader did an imitation Japanese accent. Don’t waste your time and money.

Murakami great, narration great

What made the experience of listening to Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage the most enjoyable?

Bruce Locke's muted, quiet narration perfectly captures the subtle flavor of this spelunking excursion into caves of emptiness that exist inside both men and women, but particularly men. Murakami's baby boomer sensibility is global, but his depiction of emptiness at the core of human experience is particularly Japanese.

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite character is Murakami's writing style. The style is the books spine, holding all of the characters and plot together in a masterful, transparent way. Remove the style and all the pages of the book, its characters and plot and descriptions, would blow away in the breeze, unable to stand on their own.

Which scene was your favorite?

The one that wasn't written, the meeting that was to take place between Tsukuru and his girl friend on a Wednesday night. Murakami ended the novel with Tsukuru contemplating what he'd do or say at that meeting, but he did not write the final scene. Imagine CASABLANCA without the climatic scene between Bogart and Bergman. You get to the end of the novel and say, "What? No! You can't end it there." But he did. Go figure.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Feeling trumps emptiness in the end.

inspiring thought provoking

loved it. 13 more words. 10 more words. I really liked this book. l inspired to list in to more Franz liszt.

No Words are Enough

This beautifully written book touches all parts of every possible emotion. The addition of the piano music adds to the spell and atmosphere. The narrator is excellent. A top ten book, not to be missed!

Pretty good - accent not as distracting as others have said

A good "coming of age" story that really explains how friendships in Japan work. The "Asian" accent wasn't as distracting as some reviewers have said....

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.

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.