Reviews with content warning for Death - Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

I really loved this book. It is reflective, you see the world through a man who thinks he’s colorless and boring person. There’s some thinking about the line between reality and dreams, how something that you try to ignore/forget comes to you in one way or another and how you have to accept the things you can’t change. It has themes like depression, loneliness, friendships, trauma, abandonment and music. You see so clearly, without any filters to the maincharacters mind and it is so facinating! It normalizes humanity.

Content Warnings

laurenleannereads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing medium-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

5.0

Content Warnings

q_bert13's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I’ve been recommended Norwegian Wood more times than I can count, but I decided to read this as my first Murakami book. A saddening story about loosing friendships- taking time to heal, and eventually returning back home to seek out those past friends. An emotional, reflective story full of complex, colourful characters. Despite how sad the themes could get, Murakami’s writing style is beautiful and warm.

Content Warnings

vaguelyredhead's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

Content Warnings

maramalade__'s review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.0

predictable murakami if that’s your thing. What it has

sad young man who get way to hung up on old friendships
women that are nothing more than a pair of boobs
Trains

What it lacks

Any form of character development

I didn’t hate it it’s just more or less exactly what I expect every Murakami book to be

Content Warnings

kaylamoran's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional 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

3.75

This is such a hard book to rate, as there were things I loved and things I hated.

I hated the way the story centered on a fake rape accusation. I really don't think that's a helpful narrative, and it wasn't necessary for the story. Tsukuru could have been shunned for any number of reasons. I also found it a bit frustrating how seemingly cheating wasn't a red flag? Why would Kuro tell Tsukuru to fight for a woman with another boyfriend?

Ultimately I related to Tsukuru in many ways, and I was really rooting for him. Usually slow paced books with a ton of descriptors bore me, but that didn't happen here. I do wish Murakami spent a bit less energy describing women's breasts though.

Content Warnings

xxonionxx's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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

Content Warnings

bridge_to_narnia's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

This book is more like a character study with a revolving plot about being ghosted by his childhood friend many years ago. It’s a slow, lax, shuffle to an ambitious answer, but often in life we don’t truly know about what others think. The writing is smooth and easy to read, the only uncomfortable moments are the peppered in sexual imagery that were definitely not needed. Overall, I’d give this book a positive rating, though negative points for the sexual habits and lack of a concrete ending.

Content Warnings

More...