Reviews

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

mercurue's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Rape

laurolly's review against another edition

3.0

2.5 stars. I think perhaps I didn’t gel with this as much as I hoped due to the differences rooted in language. I thought the Tsukuru felt very disconnected from the world around him, and although he went through a lot of soul searching it felt very flat. Of course the hook of not knowing why his four friends dropped him kept me engaged and I liked the progression of how we unravel this mystery.

sorrybutnoway's review

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

It was really slow paced and had a lot of pacing issues. There were a few times where I felt like I couldn’t put the book down but there were A LOT of times where it was a chore to read more than one or two paragraphs at a time.
It also didn’t help that I’m fundamentally a very different person compared to the main character, which made the reading experience often frustrating.
Overall not my favorite Murakami, but also not my least favorite (looking at you First Person Singular). I don’t regret having read this but… yeah

nguyen_vy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

afrizal_610's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

nimmmmyyyy's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

noahpech's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A great book with only a few points that keep me from giving it 5 stars. 

The similes and imagery are amazing throughout and the craftsmanship of Murakami shines through the whole book. 

It deals with themes of isolation, abandonment, close relationships and moving on. You will come to be invested in the mystery and hope for a good resolution as well as just enjoying some of the coolest concepts I've encountered in fiction. (i.e. Hieda's story)

The main reason I lowered the rating was because in a pivotal part of the story, Murakami kept making mention of a woman's breasts. That was the straw that broke the camels back. It was written in a poetic way, but, from my perspective, lacked any real reason or substance. I'm not a prude and maybe I missed something, but it just distracted from arguably the most moving part of the entire book and felt distasteful to include in that.

The explicit sexual scenes felt unnecessary, but I chalked it up to his vision. The constant focus on the physicality of the women felt uncomfortable, but I chalked it up as being Tsukuru's thoughts. Once I reached that part, again, arguably the most pivotal moment in the story, it just felt that Murakami was being gratuitous and changed my view of all the earlier points. 

urani_a's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

this was a really good book actually, i love how it’s kinda subdued idk. murakami’s writing style is always amazing and i especially enjoyed it here. its message is really nice too ig, how you don’t know why people may have done something until you ask them, and how when you think something about others , its ultimately an assumption and it’s up to you to confirm it or not. i really wanted to know what happens with tsukuru and sara though, but like all murakami books this one ended incompletely. overall amazing book, thanks to zena for lending it to me :))

livrawds's review against another edition

4.0

Definitely a good choice to jump into this back into Murakami again I needed to read him again and I loved it

anelonewolf's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75