Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

9 reviews

sawshiwen's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Spoiler

essentially, this feels like a rape fantasy book...?
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ellagriffin_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

Brewed coffee & false allegations. Thinking all you are is grey. Tokyo skies & bullet trains. Chlorine & matching suits. The cold that comes after people abandon you. An unplanned strong first step into Murakami’s work, with sadly more relatable subject matter than I care to admit. A dark mirror into my mind for the past little while. 

I was hoping for a little more of the magical realism he is known for, and found the pace slower than necessary in parts. But at it’s core is beautiful prose, clear human observations & an infectious sense of place. Looking forward to rest of his collection. 🤍
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jolienvandera's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

I liked it and found it eyeopening towards my own life. I understand some people not liking it, because it's not very Murakami-esk, in the use of magical realism, however the sexual aspect of a Murakami book is very present. I like this about his books but I can understand some people don't like it. The dreams were weird in the beginning, but they gave us a sense of foreshadowing.  However we, the readers, were left to fi ish the puzzle ourself without ever knowing the correct solution - very typical Murakami. Not my favorite, but a good one  
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icarusandthesun's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

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lunar_witch's review against another edition

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

2.0

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finn_vibing's review

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challenging inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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gotothecorner's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

3.0

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mudkipmillie's review

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I’m not going to claim that this book is perfect, but it was perfect for me at the time in my life when I read it. This book deals with how it feels to be abandoned or “ghosted” by everyone who you have ever loved. It also explores how it feels to leave home for the first time, and life in your early 20s. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who us leaving for college for the first time. It is also my favorite book by Murakami which is saying a lot because I have read 9 of his novels. Also, this book has some heavy themes so PLEASE read the content warnings!!!
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backatthelibrary's review

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

1.0

Spoiler  this book left me wondering why Murakami is such a celebrated author. 

It focuses on Tsukuru Tazaki who was completely cut-off from his friend group. Years later he asks them why they cut him off: a false rape accusation. One of the girls in the group accused Tsukuru of raping her and while none of them believed that Tsukuru did that, they still abandoned him. He was depressed because they cut him off and had frequent and vivid sex dreams of the two girls in the group. The false rape accusation is what ultimately killed this book for me. Not only was it not necessary for the plot, it was also established that none of the other three friends believed that Tsukuru had done this. They cut him off nonetheless in order not to hurt her feelings. What does that tell a reader? That even if no one believes a woman, men have to suffer terrible consequences? I truly cannot think of another reason for this storyline. 
 
The characters are stereotypical (a beautiful girl not knowing she’s beautiful, a chubby but funny girl that had full breasts at 16, a jock and a nerd) and flat with no development. The plot is basically over once we learn the reason they cut him off. All that is left then is a weird fixation on breasts and graphic sex dreams.
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