The premise of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki is irresistible. Tsukuru's highschool group of friends suddenly cut him off for no apparent reason. In his late 30s, he decides to find out why.
I rarely buy a book on impulse, but this time, curiosity took the best of me.
Being exiled from the tribe is one of the worst non-physical punishments someone can suffer. So, what did Tsukuru do to deserve this?
While reading, I really needed the answer --- it was like a ticking bomb and the only way to diffuse it was by getting to the end of the book. No wonder Murakami sells so well. He knows how to keep you glued.
Despite a few plot holes and a strange detour that doesn't go anywhere (except a very graphic sex scene), the story builds up well until the dots connect at the very end, making Colorless a pretty engaging read.
Murakami explores topics of fleeting friendship, loneliness, and self-worth.
One of the saddest things in life is that most friendships inevitably end. With time, inseparable friends can become indifferent strangers. Distance, work, kids, marriage, changing interests; all conspire to dismantle even the most robust friendships. Life follows its course and the friendship withers, like an old and tired body that no longer has the will to live.
Relationships have become disposable, like something you use for some time, and when the new shiny toy effect wears off, throw away.
But relationships are like a living organism. If you do not dedicate an effort to keep them alive, they die. That circle of friends, that epicenter of happiness from one's youth, without which you can't imagine your life, will eventually cease to exist if you do not make an effort.
However Tsukuru was cut off intentionally. And this drives him almost mad. His life goes by in a hypnosis of melancholic mundanity, incapable of forming human connections.
His only hope is a woman he just met. But she is hiding something...but she is hiding something that could completely destroy Tsukuru.