Book Review: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
" 'Ideas are like beards. Men don't have them until they grow up. Somebody said that, but I can't remember who.'
'Voltaire,' the younger man said. He rubbed his chin and smiled, a cheerful, unaffected smile. 'Voltaire might be off the mark, though, when it comes to me. I have hardly any beard at all, but have loved thinking about things since I was a kid.'
His face was indeed smooth, with no hint of a beard. His eyebrows were narrow, but thick, his ears nicely formed, like lovely seashells.
'I wonder if what Voltaire meant wasn't ideas as much as meditation,' Tsukuru said.
The man inclined his head a fraction. 'Pain is what gives rise to meditation. It has nothing to do with age, let alone beards.'
The young man's name was Haida, which meant, literally, 'gray field'. Fumiaki Haida.
Another person with a color, Tsukuru mused. Mister Gray. Though gray, of course, was a fairly subdued color. "
'Voltaire,' the younger man said. He rubbed his chin and smiled, a cheerful, unaffected smile. 'Voltaire might be off the mark, though, when it comes to me. I have hardly any beard at all, but have loved thinking about things since I was a kid.'
His face was indeed smooth, with no hint of a beard. His eyebrows were narrow, but thick, his ears nicely formed, like lovely seashells.
'I wonder if what Voltaire meant wasn't ideas as much as meditation,' Tsukuru said.
The man inclined his head a fraction. 'Pain is what gives rise to meditation. It has nothing to do with age, let alone beards.'
The young man's name was Haida, which meant, literally, 'gray field'. Fumiaki Haida.
Another person with a color, Tsukuru mused. Mister Gray. Though gray, of course, was a fairly subdued color. "
This was one of my favourite paragraphs of Haruki Murakami's latest novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage; a very lengthy title but a nice light read.
Bear in mind that this is a Murakami novel and for me to admit it to be a 'light read' is definitely something out of the ordinary for his works. As a specialist for the obscene, controversial and contemporary writing, this book is surprisingly mild in comparison to his other works and I have found it to be a common negative review by others who are familiar with his style of writing.
I, however, do not think so.
It is very lightweight but it tackles the subject that many of young adults are struggling with everyday; self-identification.
"Who we are today and who will we become tomorrow?"
"What will we do as a career?"
"How will we survive in the real world later?"
As a university student, I began to feel that no matter who we are as students, it is not certain that we will end up in a career according to what we study today. Is this world so predictable like that? NO. We will face obstacles and challenges in life and there will always be change. This book is eye-opening and it has reminded me to never conform to what 'we think' will happen.
Another very relative topic is how the main character identifies himself...and also how others define him by their external perspective; they are different. We will always be searching for our true selves. Yet, remember that we are always surrounded by the looking glass; the person we think we are by what we think others view us as. Never lock our identity by only one perspective because our real selves are who we know us by and how others perceive us personality-wise.
In conclusion, I find myself launched into a full internal discussion with myself and I began to have a new perspective in life. Murakami has outdone himself yet again even though this is the very opposite experience to 1Q84. Claps and cheers for my favourite author nonetheless!
I recommend this book to young adults and anyone who is having troubles with their career choices or are just trying to find a new outlook of the world.
A good read, light yet full of perspective.
Thanks for reading my review!
Assalamualaikum & ciao!
|Anis Diana
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