A beloved and bestselling classic in Japan, this groundbreaking tale of a dead soul who gets a second chance is now available in English for the very first time.
“Congratulations, you’ve won the lottery!” shouts the angel Prapura to a formless soul. The soul hasn’t been kicked out of the cycle of rebirth just yet—he’s been given a second chance. He must recall the biggest mistake of his past life while on ‘homestay’ in the body of fourteen-year-old Makoto Kobayashi, who has just committed suicide. It looks like Makoto doesn’t have a single friend, and his family don’t seem to care about him at all. But as the soul begins to live Makoto’s life on his own terms, he grows closer to the family and the people around him, and sees their true colors more clearly, shedding light on Makoto’s misunderstandings.
“Before there was Pixar‘s Soul or Matt Haig‘s The Midnight Library, there was Colorful by Eto Mori . . . Told with a lightness of touch and masses of empathy it’s not hard to see why Colorful has found a place in Japanese literary canon . . . Straddling the worlds of Young Adult and General Fiction, Colorful tackles a tough subject with heart and soul and shouldn’t be missed.” —The AU Review
"It’s hard to overstate what a boon Colorful will be for English readers. It’s a coming-of-age narrative that’s bighearted and emotional, tender and hilarious, thoughtful and bursting with light.” —Vulture
”Powerful and moving . . . It’s honest and sincere, and it handles serious topics with gentle nuance and an occasional touch of humor . . . Jocelyne Allen’s translation of the original novel is equally fun and lively, with an especially good ear for the dialog of the teenage characters." —Contemporary Japanese Literature