Haruki Murakami's latest book was released in Japan last night, on April 12. Murakami's new work is titled "Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage."

According to The Guardian, it is a tale of 'loss and isolation' and takes place in the shadow of the infamous 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami.

Murakami has been an outspoken critic of Japan's pro-nuclear policies since the 2011 Fukushima meltdown. He taught at Princeton University in the 1990's, is an accomplished translator of American Literature, and lists F. Scott Fitzgerald as a literary influence, according to Newser.

Aside from the mysterious title, nothing of Murakami's novel had been revealed prior to its release. Still, hundreds of Haruki Murakami fans lined up at midnight outside Tokyo bookstores to buy the novelist's latest book.

Journalists were among the fray, rushing to post reviews of the new book, which had been kept very secret. Fans and reviewers stayed up all night to absorb Murakami's first major novel in three years, after "1Q84".

On Friday morning, the Guardian reported that an NHK journalist told the broadcaster he was only halfway through the exciting story, while bookstore employee Michiko Mamuro read the 370-page novel in just a few hours.

Mamuro told the Asahi Shimbun, "I felt that the Great East Japan Earthquake loomed in the background of the novel. I got the impression that Murakami faced the disaster head on. The book is filled with strong messages and many encouraging words."

The Shimbun published an early review, stating that the novel is, "the tale of a man who tries to overcome his sense of loss and isolation."

The protagonist, Tsukuru Tazaki, had four close friends in high school whose names represented different colors. His name didn't represent anything, and in college, Tazaki's friends rejected him. In the novel, 36-year-old Tazaki looks back on his empty, colorless life.

Murakami's novel opens, "From July of his sophomore year at college to January next year, Tsukuru Tazaki was living while mostly thinking about dying."

Another reviewer, Chiaki Yoshimura, wrote that the book lacked "the strong personalities" of Murakami's 1Q84, but that she "empathize[d] with Tazaki, who tries to overcome the emotional trauma he suffered in the past while trying to take back his life."

Yu Wada, a Tokyo translator who ordered the book in advance via Amazon, said, "I want to savor reading this book. I love the language of Haruki Murakami, his special sense of Japanese. I am so excited."

Murakami has made it a habit to be incredibly secretive about his most recent books, refusing to reveal anything in advance. He did so with "1Q84", which sold a million copies in a single month in 2009.

Murakami revealed little about his newest book prior to its release, except for a statement, "I started out writing a short story, but as I was working on it, it got longer naturally. I've rarely experienced this...maybe not since 'Norwegian Wood.'"

Reuters reported Murakami as saying of his book, "One day I just felt like it, and I sat at my desk and started to write the first few lines of the story. Then for about half a year, I continued to write this story without knowing anything like what would happen, what type of people would appear and how long the story would be."

Although the novel will be released in other language, a publication date for the English version has not yet been announced.