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.
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From July of his sophomore year in college until the following January, all Tsukuru Tazaki could think about was dying.
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(@vintagebooks, 2 July 2015, paperback, 298 pages, bought from @bookshop_org_UK)
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I'm a huge fan of the author and really loved Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. This is a simpler book that some of his other work. This a coming of age book told in Murakami's unique style. I was engrossed from the first lines until the final word. I wanted to know why Tsukuru's friends had abandoned him. When he finds out the truth I was as shocked as him. I'm glad Sarah persuades him to track down his old friends and get answers. This is a gripping, heart-breaking read.