Tsukuru’s life takes on a hallucinogenic and somewhat disturbing quality mainly residing in his inner monologues, whose subject matter ranges from the mundane to the philosophical. Weaving complicated mysteries into the seemingly ordinary is undoubtedly Murakami’s strong suit, and indeed “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage” is yet another example of this. Further complicating the mystery, Tsukuru discovers that Yuzu had been murdered in her apartment six years prior to the present storyline. At first, it seems to have been nothing more than a dream, but considering Haida’s unexplained leave of absence and Yuzu’s rape, he begins to question if he is to blame and suspects something supernatural had taken place. Around the same time as the alleged rape, Tsukuru had had a violent and erotic dream involving the two girls, Yuzu and Eri, and a new college friend, Fumiaki Haida. At this point reality and dreams collide. He quickly learns it is because Shiro, mainly referred to as Yuzu, claimed he had raped her in their sophomore year of college. It is this separation that lays the groundwork for the novel.Īs an adult, Tsukuru is prompted to track down these four friends by his girlfriend, Sara, to uncover the reason behind his sudden expulsion from their group. Tsukuru is the only friend without a color, his last name meaning “to build or construct,” which coincidentally aligns with his job at a Tokyo railway company. Taking colorful in the literal sense, each friend has a color in their last name: Kei Akamatsu or Aka (Red), Yoshio Oumi or Ao (Blue), Yuzu Shirane or Shiro (White) and Eri Kurono or Kuro (Black). Murakami paints him as introverted and extremely observant, yet more importantly, Tsukuru paints himself as lackluster or “colorless,” as opposed to his exuberant and “colorful” friends.
This novel is centered on 36-year-old Tsukuru Tazaki, who seeks closure with the four friends who unexpectedly cut him off 16 years prior. One might be quick to compare “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage” to Murakami’s 2004 novel, “After Dark,” which also incorporates supernatural dreams, yet the latter novel merely uses magic as a backdrop for metaphysical exploration. With the central conflict hinging on a rather supernatural sleep paralysis experience, it refuses to be identified with either of the two established categories. “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage” performs the most delicate balancing act between what many of Murakami’s devoted readers describe as the two fundamental categories of Murakamian style: highly imaginative magical realism and subdued yet equally philosophical and introspective realism peppered with supernatural occurrences.
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