Nothing is completely solved, and everything is not perfect.

the other side of Haruki Murakami: the colorless Tazaki and his years of touring

Patti Smith

American singer-songwriter and poet. In 1975, her debut album Horses was influenced by the nascent punk movement. She combines the beat poetry performance with the garage band rock and roll, so she is known as the "Punk rock laureate Poet Laureate)" (punk godmother) and the "punk godmother" (Godmother of Punk).

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the news of Haruki Murakami's release of his new book aroused pious expectations. Readers are waiting for his work, just as past generations have lined up outside the record store for a new album by the Beatles (Beatles) or Bob Dylan (Bob Dylan). This is a cheerful and fanatical collective expectation, which is not only the sound effect of literature, but also the "Murakami effect". The colorless Takesaki and the year of his Tour was released in Japan at midnight and sold more than 1 million copies in seven days. I imagine the readers standing in line to buy books outside the bookstore in Tokyo at midnight, the lonely, the sports-loving, the disillusioned and the lively and happy. I can't help but wonder what impact this book will have on them, and what they are expecting: a surreal, inward-expanding side of Murakami, or a more minimalist and realistic side.

I have a faint feeling that this book may be rooted in the general human experience, rather than the weird structure that is more to my taste, as in the Strange Birds. However, I still feel the strange notes forming and twirling in a small wound that cannot be healed. No matter which side Murakami presents for the creation of the colorless Tazaki and the year of his tour, it exists in the stone that builds the fruits of his mysterious labor.

he sat at his desk and began to write the story of a young man's traumatic experience as an adult and the shadowy journey he had to make afterwards. The protagonist's name "Zuo" has the meaning of "production" and is a metaphor for the writer's writing process. Takasaki, 36, who works to build and renovate railway stations, is always watching how to improve them. He has a moving habit of sitting in the railway station for hours, watching the trains come and go and listening to the symphony of people. His love for the railway station sustained all stages of his life, and they changed from toys to learning and action. The railway station is a bright spot in his life, which he thinks is plain and pale.

in a sense, Takasaki was born "colorless". When he was young, he had a group of outstanding and harmonious friends. Except for him, all the others had colors in their surnames: miss Bai, Miss Black, Mr. Chi and Mr. Qing. In private, he also deeply regretted this. Sometimes he felt like the fifth leaf on a four-leaf clover, but his five friends were as inseparable as five fingers. But in his sophomore year, he was suddenly irrevocably expelled by the group, abandoned without any explanation, and thrown into the dark abyss. He doesn't belong anywhere anymore. He's irrelevant.

Tasaki's deep pain seems to contain every color of the rainbow, the colorless color of death. He felt his heart stopped, but his life did not stop, and no form of suicide was commensurate with his "pure and strong feeling" of death. After this terrible betrayal, he survived, but his heart was full of invisible deep scars. The appearance is precise and tight, the inner despair and helplessness; being harassed by lifelike sexual dreams, the feeling of being out of the body, and the nameless guilt and bewilderment. He became a stranger in some ways, tangled and colorless.

despite this pain, he finished his studies and became an engineer, building and renovating railway stations with the same romantic and practical ideas. After his skilful and subtle reconstruction, the railway station has become more beautiful and more efficient. But he has a low opinion of himself and does not think that his name is in harmony with his profession. Fortunately, God's view of him became clearer, and fate sent two guides for this painful and enlightening journey.

first of all, the gray field, the name also has color, which means "gray field". He swam in a university pool with Tasaki. Swimming is very important to both of them, and like Hiroshi Okada in Strange Birds, it can be regarded as their skill. Aseda enriches Takasaki's life and brings imagination and physical vitality to his life. He led Dozaki into the kingdom of classical music and played Liszt's "years of Travel" for him, which deeply touched his heartstrings. A familiar melody in the first movement instantly awakens Tosaki's emotional memories of his four colorful friends. He recalled what the otherworldly teak (that is, Miss Bai) looked like when she played the tune skillfully on the piano. Touched by the melancholy melody of "homesickness" (Le Mal du Pays), he recalled his pain, but did not immediately think of death again.

Grey Tian told him a wonderful story of a dying pianist who could see the colors hanging over everyone. Tasaki did not respond bluntly. On the contrary, when he is immersed in an atmosphere of mysterious memories, the transcendent desire awakens in his body. In another aspect of reality, which "has all the qualities of a dream", he and Miss Bai have intense sexual contact with Miss Black, and at the same time set off with the parallel dream state of "Mr. Grey". Suddenly aware of it, Takasaki was finally able to connect with others and experience physical release from swimming.

with the disappearance of the ash field, the friendship dissipated-which led to further pain and self-assessment by Takasaki.Thinking painfully whether I am "destined to be alone forever", to others, I may be nothing but an empty container that can rest temporarily inside, and then leave quickly without saying a word. However, the emergence of Gray Tian also played an important role in keeping Tazaki out of his suicidal thoughts and getting rid of the numbness of loneliness. He deliberately kept the three-record set of "Travel years" as a souvenir, which is a sweet and bitter memory that connects him, teak and Dozaki.

the second guide is Dozaki's girlfriend Sharo, who has no color in her name, but she undoubtedly has the ability to reconcile the color. As she explored his early life, Takasaki hesitated to talk about the trauma of losing four friends. Saro feels that if he doesn't face the problems lurking in the past, he will never be complete, and that the past is like a curse on the future. The wound has formed a protective crust under which the soul surges dangerously. Sharo was sometimes more like a therapist than a lover to him, but he was deeply attracted to her. He expressed his love to her, and she was very happy. But her intense curiosity spurred him to take action. He was driven not by intense pain, but by longing. With the help of Saro, he methodically found his friends, the nearest living in their childhood hometown, Nagoya, and the farthest in the Finnish countryside. It takes great courage to unravel this unsolved mystery. He bravely went to find everyone in this once harmonious group, regardless of the result to uncover the terrible secret.

the colorless Tazaki and the year of his Tour will feel that it is very similar to Murakami's minimalist novels, such as the Sputnik Lovers and the Norwegian Forest, but it does not really belong to that category. Nor does it have the vibrant breath of pinball in 1973, or the multiple veins of his masterpiece, Strange Bird. In the parallel world of "1Q84", the color of realism can be seen everywhere. On the other hand, this novel has the same sense of fragility as Kafka by the Sea, accompanied by a great deal of description of music. Few people can describe the listening and playing of music with such insight and tenderness. We got a piece of background music: "homesickness" in Liszt's Travel years. The ideal player is Lazzare Behrman (Lazar Berman),. The ideal way to listen is to listen on the vinyl phonograph.

this book is suitable for both new and old readers. It has a strange sense of carelessness, as if slowly unfolding with Murakami's writing, sometimes as if it were a prequel to another story. The feeling of the book is somewhat uneven, and some of the dialogue is stiff, perhaps out of deliberate or translation problems. But there are also wonderful moments of epiphany from time to time, especially in paragraphs about people influencing each other. "Heart to heart can not only be combined in harmony," Takasaki began to understand. "through pain, you can blend more deeply. Pain and pain, fragility and fragility, after every peace that connects each other's hearts, there is always a cry of grief; behind every forgiveness, there is always blood; and every acceptance, there is always a painful loss. " This book shows the other side of Haruki Murakami, which is not so easy to find. Hopeless restlessness, ambiguity and brave struggle lead to a renewed level of maturity. This is the transformation of Haruki Murakami, no longer "countless blondes" (Blonde on Blonde), but "blood on the track" (Blood on the Tracks).

what will be the end of Tasaki? Can love fill the empty container? Can you create a soul that reflects colors? We can hope that one day Murakami will allow us to peek into Takazaki's future inner journey through his highly connected brain. But it is not necessarily a happy ending, there is no definite answer. There is still an unsolved case in the book, the will to die lingers, the burden needs to be thrown away, and the old cover needs to be lifted. To maintain hope and the desire to solve all problems, you must be patient.

the writer sat at the table and wrote the story for us. A story that doesn't know where you're going and where you're going to be magical. It ends with an illusion, a flash in the eyes of the storm. nothing in life has been completely solved, and everything is not perfect. The important thing is to continue to live, because only by living can you see what happens next.