Haruki Murakami has made his name in the West with the translations of his tome-like novels, but it was 1987's relatively slim Norwegian Wood that made him famous in Japan. And his latest big hit here is similarly slender.
"Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage," which is released in English this week, sold a million copies in its first week when it was released in Japan last year, but it is a short book that favors the realism of "Norwegian Wood" over the lengthy metaphysical adventures of his other novels. Almost as if to disguise this fact, publisher Knopf has released the translation in a short, squat format that draws out the page count to nearly 400 pages. First editions will also include stickers that readers can use to decorate the cover.