Scan barcode
A review by ben_smitty
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
2.0
2.5 stars. Too many plots and subplots left unanswered. I know Murakami was trying to create a melancholy background to the book but after finishing the book I can't help but feel that some of the symbolism and metaphors in the book were just made up on the spot to add a poetic edge to the story.
The book is about this depressed 38 year-old who can't move on in life and is stuck in the past, dealing with abandonment from his friends sixteen years ago. Even after having the courage to confront his friends, he's left in the end still depressed and in pain over... over what? We don't know. Maybe nothing. Maybe he's just whiny. Along the way he meets another friend (Haida) that also left him. We learn a story about a guy with six fingers that played the piano. We learn the protagonist has a girl he loves with all his heart (Sara) and wanting to marry, but cheating on him with another guy. We learn that his old friend was brutally murdered in her apartment. In the end these things go unresolved. We don't know what happened to Haida, we don't know if the protagonist ends up with the girl, we don't even know who murdered his friend (it could have been him in an alternate universe.... lol what?), we don't know what six fingers means. We don't know why he was obsessed with trains. We don't know whether the protagonist ends up hanging with his friends that abandoned him or not. I don't even know what the point of the book was.
The book is about this depressed 38 year-old who can't move on in life and is stuck in the past, dealing with abandonment from his friends sixteen years ago. Even after having the courage to confront his friends, he's left in the end still depressed and in pain over... over what? We don't know. Maybe nothing. Maybe he's just whiny. Along the way he meets another friend (Haida) that also left him. We learn a story about a guy with six fingers that played the piano. We learn the protagonist has a girl he loves with all his heart (Sara) and wanting to marry, but cheating on him with another guy. We learn that his old friend was brutally murdered in her apartment. In the end these things go unresolved. We don't know what happened to Haida, we don't know if the protagonist ends up with the girl, we don't even know who murdered his friend (it could have been him in an alternate universe.... lol what?), we don't know what six fingers means. We don't know why he was obsessed with trains. We don't know whether the protagonist ends up hanging with his friends that abandoned him or not. I don't even know what the point of the book was.