Tsukuru Tazaki had four best friends at school. By chance all of their names contained a colour. The two boys were called Akamatsu, meaning ‘red pine', and Oumi, ‘blue sea', while the girls' names were Shirane, ‘white root', and Kurono, ‘black field'. Tazaki was the only last name with no colour in it.
One day Tsukuru Tazaki's friends announced that they didn't want to see him, or talk to him, ever again.
Since that day Tsukuru has been floating through life, unable to form intimate connections with anyone. But then he meets Sara, who tells him that the time has come to find out what happened all those years ago.
Colourless
Tsukuru Tazaki has always been a very average guy who didn't really care about much. The exception being his group of colorful friends, and perhaps train stations. When he graduates high school he decides to move to Tokyo to pursue his interest in train stations, but this decision leads to something that traumatizes him for years to come. His group of friends completely and without explanation cut him off. 16 years later Tsukuru Tazaki is urged to confront his friends about why they left him in order to move on from his dark and painful past. Haruki Murakami's latest book is thought provoking and intense. It takes you on a dark and mysterious journey addressing that which cannot be explained by logic, the profound effect of death and the individual toll it takes, and the darkness everyone sometimes finds within themselves. Reviewed by 20ah
QBD, 27/08/2014
