Nevertheless, as Tsukuru considered traveling, there was a sense that he needed to go somewhere, that there were still threads left loose, still people to reconcile with.īut he chooses not to go. Hamamatsu, where Shiro last lived, likewise does not even share a prefecture with the cities Tsukuru considered. Haida is from Akita prefecture further north, his father visited Oita far south. Perhaps those are simply the places that can be reached directly via Shinjuku station. I do not have insight on why Tsukuru considered, in those last few pages, traveling to Matsumoto, or Kofu, or Shiojiri, or Hachioji in particular.

And Murakami seems to pull us along with this assumption even to 10 pages just before the end, Tsukuru sits at the station and considers boarding the train to Matsumoto, at the cost of missing his meeting with Sara. Because of this, I was under the impression that Haida was equal to Tsukuru’s four friends, and deserved the same reconciliation sequence. This is because, midway through the novel, Tsukuru realizes, while swimming behind a man with Haida’s feet, in a moment of impactful insight (“a sudden thought struck him”) “ Haida is also one of the things that’s blocking me inside” (247). Haida’s mystery seemed, initially, to demand an answer. The most pressing loose ends were: Who raped Shiro and who killed her? and Why did Haida leave? Shiro’s mysteries, however, were not as immediately related to Tsukuru’s own life as Haida’s. Tsukuru had reconciled with all of his disappearing friends, except Haida. Upon closing it, my primary thought was, “What about Haida?” And I couldn’t sleep. I began the book at 11 PM on Saturday and finished at 3 AM on Sunday.

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki reminded me of how viscerally comforting fiction can be. Also anyone who would like a middle-aged version of Catcher in the Rye.

I also recommend it for midlife crises and to anyone who feels lost. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is Haruki Murakami’s thirteenth novel.Ĭolorless Tsukuru Tazaki is a great quarter-life crisis book.

Colourless tsukuru