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A tour-de-force of metaphysical reality, Kafka on the Shore is powered by two remarkable characters. At fifteen, Kafka Tamura runs away from home, either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister. And the aging Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction, finds his highly simplified life suddenly upset. Their odyssey, as mysterious to us as it is to them, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting prostitute, a forest harbors soldiers apparently unaged since World War II, and rainstorms of fish fall from the sky. There is a brutal murder, with the identity of both victim and perpetrator a riddle. Yet this, like everything else, is eventually answered, just as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually revealed, with one escaping his fate entirely and the other given a fresh start on his own.… (more)
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It's a great feeling to not be in academia any more, and be able to admit the above.
It may be egocentric for me to say this (maybe even metaphorical – wink, wink!), I almost feel as if Kafka on the Shore was written for me. At least, it was a subject
In Kafka on the Shore we have the two halves of an incomplete circle. One is about a boy whose mother left when he was too young to remember (with his adopted sister) and a father he feels no love from or towards. The other half is of a woman who is much older than the boy and, in her youth, had love thrust onto her early in life; and, of course, had her lover taken from her due to violence and mistaken identity. The boy runs away and tries to move away from the world. The woman is a time capsule holding onto a past she refuses to let go of; of a world she will not move away from.
Outside of this incomplete circle, we have an old man who is not very bright due to something that happened to him as a child during the Second World War. He can also talk to cats (something I found truly entertaining; for the author gave each cat a unique voice). Somehow, it is set through to a course that this old man is the key to it all: to complete the circle between the boy and the women.
I want to give away so much, because there is so much lovely symbolism. There’s also a great mixture of Eastern ideals and Western philosophies in place. Recently, I had a discussion with my more significant other about the curses of the Far East (Asian countries). We watch a lot of horror films from Korea and Japan. Though, Korea is usually more emotionally driven, they both explore the significances of curses. In the United States, we think of curses from Europe. These are usually set on a person because of punishment and, until they learn & fix their ways, the curse stays – the beast finds true love and does something selfless, the curse is lifted and we have a happy ending. In the Japanese and Korean films, curses are set not just for life, but for generations. The curse is not meant to be lifted. The curse is meant to stay and run its course. Usually, people learn live a new life because of the curse, with full knowledge that the cure has to run its course.
Kafka on the Shore has such a curse. Because of the manner in which the curse is allowed to run its course, and with the factor of the key to complete the circle, the story has a satisfying (at least to me) ending. In a metaphorical way (wink, wink), it is a happy ending.
One last thing: though, I cannot read Japanese at all, and to do the following would be pointless, but I would love to roam through the private library mentioned in the novel. It seemed quite charming.
Kafka, a 15 year old runaway in Japan, is trying to find his mother and sister while escaping the curse of his father. From the beginning, he works toward building his strength and understanding –qualities he will need as he slips
Counterbalancing Kafka is a much older Nakata who even with his very strange handicap possesses wisdom and perfect timing. The two characters are entwined in parallel journeys – each working to resolve different aspects of the same mystery.
Well written, easy to read, and puzzling by nature, this book grabbed me from the beginning and wouldn’t let me go. Characters go beyond three dimensions. Every event impacts another. Filled with magical realism, this story explores with sensitivity issues like time, loss, memories, abandonment, friendships, death, and intimacy. You will find talking cats, ghostly libraries, and classical music.
Fun quote:
”A long while later, after the files were completely burned, Hoshino stomped the ashes into dust… ‘Nobody’s gonna read it now,’ Hoshino said. ‘I don’t know what was written in it, but it’s all gone. A bit of shape and form has disappeared from the world, increasing the amount of nothingness.’
‘Mr Hoshino?’
‘What’s up?’
‘I have a question I’d like to ask.’
‘Fire away.’
‘Can nothingness increase?’
Hoshino puzzled this one over for awhile. ‘That’s a tough one,’ he admitted. ‘If something returns to nothing it becomes zero, but even if you add zero to zero, it’s still zero.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘I don’t get it either. Thinking about those kinds of things always gives me a headache.’”
the style is magical realism, but what is interesting is that the fantastical elements of the story never seem overly odd. even when we don’t understand what is happening or why, there is a feeling that all the events are still natural - in fact very natural. there is a reverence for nature that emanates from the novel and a sense that nature is more mysterious, complex and powerful than we often expect.
this book is quite a joy to read - which is in a way unsurprising because there is an element of the book that deals with the joy of reading. kafka loves reading, as does oshima (a friend he meets) and there are moments where they talk about their love for books and the meanings of some books. as its title suggests the novel is full of literary allusions and it is interesting how the characters themselves anaylyse their situations using literature and its quite refreshing how quickly kafka recognises the oedipul nature of his plight. they use literature and philosophy as a means to further understand themselves, their feelings and their fate. for lovers of books these moments have added pleasure because they can relate to kakfa and oshima’s appreciation for books.
as with his other novels, murakami’s love for music permeates the book and plays a key role. the title is actually the name of a song that is central to the novel, and beethoven, specifically his archduke trio, also features prominently.
when i finished this book i found myself a little confused - i struggled to find its meaning… but then, i can’t say i mind too much. this is one of those novels which you feel is very sincere and is meant to be just so. i couldn’t want it to be any other way. if the meaning wasn’t clear to me then that doesn’t mean it won’t be clear to another person. although, i also ask myself, why should it be clear? must the message of the novel be loud and clear like the moral of a sitcom? murakami has in fact addressed this himself, by saying:
kafka on the shore contains several riddles, but there aren’t any solutions provided. instead, several of these riddles combine, and through their interaction the possibility of a solution takes shape. and the form this solution takes will be different for each reader. to put it another way, the riddles function as part of the solution. it’s hard to explain, but that’s the kind of novel i set out to write.”
which is as good an explanation regarding the meaning of the novel that i can think of.
ultimately, the enjoyment of the novel lies in the enjoyment of reading it… the experience of it… and the feeling of being immersed in his world.
Kafka's and Nakata's adventures had me utterly addicted from the first few pages. It has been awhile since I have been engaged by such well developed and compelling characters. The two couldn't be anymore
Beyond the characters, the story itself was well crafted. There are quite a few twists and turns and it wasn't until the very last moment that I knew what was going to happen. There were a number of times I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen and having no idea where Murakami was going to take me next.
The writing wasn't difficult but the story is one that will make you think. The importance of relationships, the power of memory and the journey towards what you need to do (even if you don't know what that is yet). Heavy issues, but tackled in an accessible way. This will be one book that sticks with me for a long while.
At times Murakami telegraphs what will happen next but the structure of the novel still allows for a great deal of suspense as the chapters alternate between Kafka, a runaway fifteen year old from Tokyo, and Nakata, an elderly man beginning a journey of his own. The storytelling becomes very sweet towards the end of the novel which contrasts nicely with the raw realism from the earlier chapters.
This book is certainly not recommended for everyone. Some might find it too abstract or outlandish. It combines traditional literary storytelling with elements of fantasy and science-fiction without truly being a genre work. It's also a compelling story full of literary and philosophy references that enrich the narrative. With that in mind I would recommend the book to current and former college English and/or philosophy majors, fans of Plato, and readers looking for a very different work of fiction to read. It does have some cursing and explicit material so I would not recommend it for children or students, although high school juinors and seniors may enjoy it as an extracurricular read.
This is such a fantastic book! When a fifteen-year-old boy runs away from his affluent Tokyo home, his life becomes intertwined with that of someone he has never met;
Murakami is often characterized as a magical realist, and although I can see why, I believe this is something of a misclassification. I once read an article that posited that the feature that distinguishes magical realism from pure fantasy is the way cause and effect is treated. In fantasy, magical events occur without reason or explanation, whereas in magical realism, seemingly magical acts are given a cause—even if the link that binds together cause and effect seems implausible or even absurd. For example, in Midnight’s Children, the main character’s telepathic abilities are awakened when he inhales a pajama cord too deeply. Here, however, the connection between cause and effect is buried deeply, and is often nowhere to be found. My mind desperately sought to find a connection between Johnnie Walker and Colonel Sanders, knowing the repetitious use of brand names must mean something, and yet I came up empty-handed.
I believe that Murakami’s intent was to create not a world where magic and reality coexist but rather one in which the line between waking and dream is razor thin and easily breached. As in dreams, there is a sense of connection between people and explanations underlying events that can almost be seen, almost be grasped, yet remains elusively just out of focus.
How is the reader supposed to understand a dream not of his own imagination?
Hoshino, the truck driver who befriends Nakata and helps him complete his mission, seems to take the proper position: with some difficulty, he stops questioning the meaning of improbable events and unlikely characters, and accepts the dream as his own.
Even the unsatisfying conclusion that offers little explanation and feels at first to be rushed and anticlimactic ultimately plays into Murakami’s vision of a shared dream. Dreams invariably end with looses threads, and this one is no exception.
Kafka on the Shore is unsettling and enchanting, and has the mark of a book that will only continue to bloom upon another read.
This is a very odd book and I enjoyed it despite its oddness, not because of it. I’m rather surprised by how much I liked it.
From the beginning I thought that it was peculiar but I was engaged from the
This book is beautifully constructed and very well crafted.
In alternating chapters, the story follows two characters (Kafka and Nakata) seemingly on a collision course. The two intersecting stories that make up the whole were both fascinating.
I loved Kafka Tamura and Satoru Nakata. Oshima, Hoshimo, Sakura, Miss Saeki were also interesting and I cared about them too. I could have done without Colonel Sanders and especially Johnnie Walker and the sometime gruesome parts of the plot.
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this book because I’d heard it referred to as magical realism and I suspected that wouldn’t appeal to me.
It’s true what I loved best were the “normal” parts of slices of life with Kafka and Nakata, the psychological fiction aspects, and the allusions to Oedipus and Greek mythology and, I think, Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis than the even more strange and surreal aspects of the story. I chose to interpret these as metaphors and that’s what made the book work for me.
As I read, the suspense increased, and it became more difficult to both pick the book up and read it and to put the book down and stop reading it.
This is my first Haruki Murakami book and I want to read his other novels on my to read list.
Kafka on the Shore starts as a troubled 15 year old boy (the Kafka of the title - not his real name which we never learn) runs away from his home in Tokyo where he lives with his father - his mother has disappeared with his older sister years previously and he doesn't even know her name or what she looks like. He ends up at a town in the south of Japan where he discovers an unusual library and is befriended by the people who run it: Oshima and the enigmatic Miss Saeki. Kafka's story is initially interspersed with documents relating to an investigation into a strange incident in the Japan of the 1940's where a number of children collapsed simultaneously for no apparent reason, and later with the contemporary story of Mr Nakata, who had been one of the children affected in the incident, now an elderly man. Not so very weird at first - but then Mr Nakata can talk to cats, Johnny Walker and Colonel Sanders appear and strange things fall from the sky A shocking turn of events forces Mr Nakata to flee Tokyo and it gets stranger and stranger. Anyone who likes everything to be crystal clear at the end of a book should probably leave this one alone.
There were elements of the book that I really loved - the strangeness for a start - and Nakata's story, particularly his relationship with the lorry driver Hoshino who helps him on his quest. However, there were parts that didn't work for me. There are some quite violent scenes (any cat lovers who are at all squeamish should beware) and I'm not very good with that. Kafka also didn't really come across as a 15 year old boy, even a very literary one - and in particular the relationship between him and Oshima just didn't ring true. In fact, Kafka's relationships as a whole didn't seem to make sense - he is obviously a troubled teenager who has never made real friends - and yet he is able to develop a fairly successful relationship with everyone he meets after leaving home.
So not a perfect read but one that I really enjoyed and I'll be reading more of Murakami's work.
I have recently read too many novels where there are lots of "mysteries" and overly constructed surprises only to have a conclusion where it is all nicely tied up and neatly explained - and you are supposed to be surprised as to how it all was really connected. It is becoming such a tired and quite predictable formula. This story, however, will not give you the answers like tomorrow's newspaper will give you the solved sudoku puzzle.
In a certain way, Murakami reminds me a bit of Kundera (my all-time favorite author). The characters are compelling, the descriptions acute, yet elusive, the emotions raw and brutally honest, and the sense of mystery unapologetically lingers long after the story ends.
As far as the translation is concerned, it did seem a bit "over-translated" at times. It seemed artifial to read about dollars instead of yen, and the colloquial expressions often seemed too American...However, I don't speak any Japanese, so I cannot be too critical - I can just offer my sense of the translated text.
I cannot wait to read more from this Japanese Kundera...
Although I couldn't grasp some of Kafka's life, the book still made a wonderful impression. And the idea of traveling through a dream was just something else. Indeed, Murakami's writing leaves readers with lingering questions as he weaves together surreal elements and philosophical musings that can be captivating. Definitely, the book deserves 5 stars.
I was not so enamored of Kafka, ostensibly the protagonist, but more acted upon than acting (aside from when he initially runs away). I had to keep reminding myself he was only fifteen and thus as a reader I needed to be patient with his development. I didn't get the character Crow at all. I wasn't sure if he was supposed to be an aspect of Kafka, an imaginary friend, a living spirit, etc., and expected part of Kafka's development to be outgrowing Crow.
I found myself looking at the world a little differently while reading this book, or perhaps not looking at it differently but feeling it differently. Murakami's writing belies profound intelligence and an ability to create a whole experience for the reader, something lacking in most fiction, even in much good writing. This was my first by him, but will not be my last.
All of which makes it sound like a muddled mess, but the truth is, it's very readable. Surprisingly readable. But also a little frustrating, as it's not a short book, and after a while you start to get the distinct feeling that it's not actually going to tie everything together at the end in way that makes coherent sense. Which it doesn't. But that's less unsatisfying than I expected, because it does make a sort of dreamlike sense. Maybe. I honestly don't know. What I do know is that, however mixed my feelings about it, it was certainly interesting. And that I will definitely give Murakami another shot in the future, if only so I can continue trying to figure out what I think about him.
In (very) brief, the book depicts two parallel storylines: that of a teenager who has run away from home and that of agiing man who,
The plot itself is, as mentioned above, far more complicated than can be outlined in a review. What a potential reader needs to know is that the plot never becomes entangled and that the reader never becomes lost. There are plenty of points of metaphysical speculation, and the plot is all the richer for them; they are part of the novel's lifeblood. This is not navel-gazing; Murakami weaves them into his plot in order to make us reflect not only on the magic realism world of his characters but also on our own being-in-the-world. Reading this novel is NOT a passive activity but is instead one of active engagement.
Above all, reading this novel is enjoyable. Murakami has given us a page-turning plotline, one that keeps us asking what on earth could be coming next. He has given us likeable main characters, ones we want to follow into the next chapters. He has given us a world where the impossible is possible, and we want to extend our stay there. He does this all in an engaging, frequently shifting, narrative voice that keeps the novel cohesive and steers us onward.
Translator Philip Gabriel also deserves mention for his lively translation into English. Puns, jokes, idiomatic expressions, and slang all come through loud and clear in English. They style of the novel comes through in a natural voice, one that is never contrived or bland.
But something in the story of fifteen year old Kafka Tamura, on the run from his father and an Oedipal prophecy, and the old Nakata, slow-witted since a strange accident in his childhood but with the ability to talk to cats, doesn’t quite catch me. It just doesn’t feel as well composed to me, but instead constructed. It’s like there are too few pieces in this mosaic to be mosaic, and the imagery is flatter than in the other two books I’ve read. And much too much of this book seems to rely on suddenly getting new information verbally. Also, since we never really learn anything about Kafka’s father, the whole situation of being alone and on the run is abstract and somewhat un-engaging.
There are lots of memorable situations here, and Murakami’s quietly drastic way of moving things in new directions without really pushing it is often as good as ever. But closing the book, I’m not moved like I was by Sputnik Sweetheart, nor filled with gentle puzzlement like I was after The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Maybe it’s just me.