This was Haruki Murakami’s second book I read (after ‘Norwegian Wood’), due to its wide popularity. Murakami is one of the pioneers in ‘Magical Realism’ genre, and this is evident in this book too. This is one of the best works of Murakami, an extremely engrossing tale of two central characters – a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who has run away from his home in search of his long-missing mother and sister or to escape an Oedipal prophecy. Another central character is named Nakata, who, in his own words, is ‘not so bright’. Both these characters, living their individual lives, their destinies are somehow entwined.
The book has brilliant instances of magical realism such as –
- Cats having conversations with people
- Colonel Sanders (of the KFC fame), appearing out of nowhere, employing a prostitute.
- World War II soldiers who have not aged
- Fish falling from the sky
- A murder where the identity of both the victim and murderer is a mystery
- A small stone so heavy, that a person can barely lift it
- Concepts of reincarnation and destiny
Murakami’s forte lies in using bizarre instances, simple but soul touching dialogues, interesting & quirky characters, to weave a magical tale. This novel is no different and is an absolutely crazy ride. If you’re picking this book, you should expect all this, and more. What I love about Murakami, is that the story almost always takes you beyond the normal bounds of human reality, into some sort of an alternate world where metaphysical magic happens!
For people who are new to Murakami’s style of writing, they might find a lot of events really random. And yes, they are random at times. Not denying that bit. But maybe, that’s the whole charm of his writing, where certain things happen which are totally unexpected.
‘Kafka on the Shore’ is a story about a fifteen-year-old teenager, who runs away from home. He decides to leave his home in order to find his lost mother and sister, but mostly, as it’s described in the book, to get away from his father. The father figure has been shown in a negative light, but not much into detail. His fate lands him to a distant town, where he meets a gay friend, who helps him through a big part of his journey. He also meets two exceptional women, who could have been his mother or sister, and ends up copulating with them. This is one phase of the story. Simultaneously, Murakami introduces you to a simpleton sexagenarian, Nakata, who has kind of lost his reasoning abilities in an incident which in some way is related to the extra-terrestrial. Nakata, although not so bright, has a weird gift of talking to cats and making fish fall from the sky. Somehow, Kafka and Nakata’s destinies are interconnected, and the whole book is about their journey. The book is extremely engrossing and entertaining. Now, as it usually happens with Murakami’s work, some of the questions have been left unanswered and some events have an open-ended interpretation. So, if you’re someone who likes straightforward stories, you might be disappointed on these fronts.
Favorite Quotes from the book:
- “Each person feels pain in his own way, each has his own scars.”
- “If you think God’s there, He is. If you don’t, He isn’t. And if that’s what God’s like, I wouldn’t worry about it.”
- “Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.”
- “If you remember me, then I don't care if everyone else forgets.”
- “Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back. That's part of what it means to be alive. But inside our heads - at least that's where I imagine it - there's a little room where we store those memories. A room like the stacks in this library. And to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making new reference cards. We have to dust things off every once in a while, let in fresh air, change the water in the flower vases. In other words, you'll live forever in your own private library.”
- “Silence, I discover, is something you can actually hear.”
- “Listen up - there's no war that will end all wars.”
- “Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.”
- “Closing your eyes isn't going to change anything. Nothing's going to disappear just because you can't see what's going on. In fact, things will even be worse the next time you open your eyes. That's the kind of world we live in. Keep your eyes wide open. Only a coward closes his eyes. Closing your eyes and plugging up your ears won't make time stand still.”
- “Chance encounters are what keep us going.”
- “Being with her I feel a pain, like a frozen knife stuck in my chest. An awful pain, but the funny thing is I'm thankful for it. It's like that frozen pain and my very existence are one.”
- “It's hard to tell the difference between sea and sky, between voyager and sea. Between reality and the workings of the heart.”
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“Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.”Highlighted by 1,684 Kindle readers- We’re so caught up in our everyday lives that events of the past, like ancient stars that have burned out, are no longer in orbit about our minds.Highlighted by 1,488 Kindle readers
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An intriguing book that leaves you in doubt &confusion.
Some books we read are difficult to understand because of the uncommon things the writer chooses to write about, and it may be possible that,we as readers may endup with confusion & doubts.The book " Kafka On The Shore" by Haruki Murakami is one such book where you need to keep your rationale aside, else you miss the feeling of reading a book parexcellance.The book has two very intriguing characters,one is Kafka Tamura & the other one is Nakata. Kafka Tamura is a teenaged boy & a bibliophile,who runs away from his home,Nogata inTokyo to a far away place called Takamatsu,on his15th birthday.the reason being that, he hated his father & wanted to prove him wrong,from the Oedipal prophecy that he made for him & his repeated curses.He also hated himself for carrying the unfortunate genes that he has inherited from his father and he knows that he stands no chance to change it,but to live with it as a curse. While on his way aboard a bus he happens to meet a girl named Sakura,and they endup making a good bond of friendship between them.The thought of his sister about six years elder to him,who would have been about the same age as that of Sakura & who was taken away by his mother when he was just around four years of age crosses his mind for an instant while, giving him a subtle hint of his fathers prophecy. At Tokamatsu,he visits Komuramemorial library, which was on his list of visits, that he planned,before running away from home Here,he meets Mr.Oshima (a transgender, who was working as an assistant under Miss Saeki - (a beautiful slim lady in her mid-forties and also the boss of the library whose lineage is linked with Komura family).and that we could see an exceptional bond of friendship between them till the end of the book. The mysterious visits of Miss Saeki in the room of Kafka at the library,her constant staring at the photgraph titled 'Kafka on the shore',and later along with the song of the same title brings out the metaphysical relationships that he experiences both as Miss Saeki of 15 years age and also as Miss Saeki,the boss of the library,though looks mystical, but still we find reading something different & intresting.Kafka also sees his mother in Miss Saeki, who left him when he was four years old. Nakata is another important character,an old man,living on Governors subsidy,helping people to find the lost cats & accepting,whatever little they give back in return.At an early age of nine years,he is into an accident , which makes him lose all his past memory and turns him dumb. His often repeated sentence that "Nakata cannot read & write" and that he is dumb,catches your attention of the charectar with both sympathy & intrest.The mention of Nakata's shadow as being paler or lighter is noteworthy to consider him as incomplete.The way he goes about the words like sub city for subsidy,depart mint for department,minis tree for ministry etc brings out the humor and innocense of the charectar.Bur then,we find that he is blessed with some super natural powers beyond the scope of normal human beings.He can speak to the cats,follow instructions from a dog,and make fishes & leeches rain from the sky,predict a thunderstorm,speak to a stone.On an occasion we find Nakata killing one Mr.Jhonny Walker (father of Kafka which turns out to be the main twist in the story, as elsewhere we find Kafka falling unconscious & getting his shirt drenched in blood & the link of Kafka,Nakata in Johny Walkers murder hints a subtle hint of the prophecy.Besides the incidence also brings Sakura & Kafka together for a night) to rescue a cat and then confessing the same at a police station but they consider him dumb & was not taken seriously.After then,Nakata proceeds to complete his unaccomplished mission of finding an ' Entrance stone',where he was helped by one Mr.Hoshino,the truck driver who sees his Grandpa in him & helps him in finding the stone with the help of a fictions charecter ,by name Colonel Sanders.Hoshino learns that besides the stone Nakata is on the lookout for something else too,which he can not express,due to his limited thought and so he hires a taxi to go around and finally together they are able to findthe Komura memorial library at Takamatsu.Here Nakata happens to meet Miss Saeki and during conversations and with the touch of their hands,some past memories between them comes to the surface,and Miss Saeki identifing Nakata as the one in the painting.Later Miss Saeki hands Nakata a few files,asking him to burn all and dies immediately after. Nakata also dies later at the room after burning the files given to him by Miss Saeki,indicating the end of memories and their deaths. Overall, the book has many twists and turns with certain elements in the book that are beyond our normal thinking,but even though you can not stop yourself of going through the experience of reading an outstanding book.It also takes you closer to nature,dense forest,symbolism and metaphors,wisdom words etc.There are also too many coincidences in the story which are beyond belief but still having read an extraordinary book remains with the reader
Top reviews from India
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Reviewed in India on 7 April 2019
The book has brilliant instances of magical realism such as –
- Cats having conversations with people
- Colonel Sanders (of the KFC fame), appearing out of nowhere, employing a prostitute.
- World War II soldiers who have not aged
- Fish falling from the sky
- A murder where the identity of both the victim and murderer is a mystery
- A small stone so heavy, that a person can barely lift it
- Concepts of reincarnation and destiny
Murakami’s forte lies in using bizarre instances, simple but soul touching dialogues, interesting & quirky characters, to weave a magical tale. This novel is no different and is an absolutely crazy ride. If you’re picking this book, you should expect all this, and more. What I love about Murakami, is that the story almost always takes you beyond the normal bounds of human reality, into some sort of an alternate world where metaphysical magic happens!
For people who are new to Murakami’s style of writing, they might find a lot of events really random. And yes, they are random at times. Not denying that bit. But maybe, that’s the whole charm of his writing, where certain things happen which are totally unexpected.
‘Kafka on the Shore’ is a story about a fifteen-year-old teenager, who runs away from home. He decides to leave his home in order to find his lost mother and sister, but mostly, as it’s described in the book, to get away from his father. The father figure has been shown in a negative light, but not much into detail. His fate lands him to a distant town, where he meets a gay friend, who helps him through a big part of his journey. He also meets two exceptional women, who could have been his mother or sister, and ends up copulating with them. This is one phase of the story. Simultaneously, Murakami introduces you to a simpleton sexagenarian, Nakata, who has kind of lost his reasoning abilities in an incident which in some way is related to the extra-terrestrial. Nakata, although not so bright, has a weird gift of talking to cats and making fish fall from the sky. Somehow, Kafka and Nakata’s destinies are interconnected, and the whole book is about their journey. The book is extremely engrossing and entertaining. Now, as it usually happens with Murakami’s work, some of the questions have been left unanswered and some events have an open-ended interpretation. So, if you’re someone who likes straightforward stories, you might be disappointed on these fronts.
Favorite Quotes from the book:
- “Each person feels pain in his own way, each has his own scars.”
- “If you think God’s there, He is. If you don’t, He isn’t. And if that’s what God’s like, I wouldn’t worry about it.”
- “Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.”
- “If you remember me, then I don't care if everyone else forgets.”
- “Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back. That's part of what it means to be alive. But inside our heads - at least that's where I imagine it - there's a little room where we store those memories. A room like the stacks in this library. And to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making new reference cards. We have to dust things off every once in a while, let in fresh air, change the water in the flower vases. In other words, you'll live forever in your own private library.”
- “Silence, I discover, is something you can actually hear.”
- “Listen up - there's no war that will end all wars.”
- “Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.”
- “Closing your eyes isn't going to change anything. Nothing's going to disappear just because you can't see what's going on. In fact, things will even be worse the next time you open your eyes. That's the kind of world we live in. Keep your eyes wide open. Only a coward closes his eyes. Closing your eyes and plugging up your ears won't make time stand still.”
- “Chance encounters are what keep us going.”
- “Being with her I feel a pain, like a frozen knife stuck in my chest. An awful pain, but the funny thing is I'm thankful for it. It's like that frozen pain and my very existence are one.”
- “It's hard to tell the difference between sea and sky, between voyager and sea. Between reality and the workings of the heart.”
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Magical Realism at its best, one of the best works of Murakami
Reviewed in India on 7 April 2019
This was Haruki Murakami’s second book I read (after ‘Norwegian Wood’), due to its wide popularity. Murakami is one of the pioneers in ‘Magical Realism’ genre, and this is evident in this book too. This is one of the best works of Murakami, an extremely engrossing tale of two central characters – a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who has run away from his home in search of his long-missing mother and sister or to escape an Oedipal prophecy. Another central character is named Nakata, who, in his own words, is ‘not so bright’. Both these characters, living their individual lives, their destinies are somehow entwined.Reviewed in India on 7 April 2019
The book has brilliant instances of magical realism such as –
- Cats having conversations with people
- Colonel Sanders (of the KFC fame), appearing out of nowhere, employing a prostitute.
- World War II soldiers who have not aged
- Fish falling from the sky
- A murder where the identity of both the victim and murderer is a mystery
- A small stone so heavy, that a person can barely lift it
- Concepts of reincarnation and destiny
Murakami’s forte lies in using bizarre instances, simple but soul touching dialogues, interesting & quirky characters, to weave a magical tale. This novel is no different and is an absolutely crazy ride. If you’re picking this book, you should expect all this, and more. What I love about Murakami, is that the story almost always takes you beyond the normal bounds of human reality, into some sort of an alternate world where metaphysical magic happens!
For people who are new to Murakami’s style of writing, they might find a lot of events really random. And yes, they are random at times. Not denying that bit. But maybe, that’s the whole charm of his writing, where certain things happen which are totally unexpected.
‘Kafka on the Shore’ is a story about a fifteen-year-old teenager, who runs away from home. He decides to leave his home in order to find his lost mother and sister, but mostly, as it’s described in the book, to get away from his father. The father figure has been shown in a negative light, but not much into detail. His fate lands him to a distant town, where he meets a gay friend, who helps him through a big part of his journey. He also meets two exceptional women, who could have been his mother or sister, and ends up copulating with them. This is one phase of the story. Simultaneously, Murakami introduces you to a simpleton sexagenarian, Nakata, who has kind of lost his reasoning abilities in an incident which in some way is related to the extra-terrestrial. Nakata, although not so bright, has a weird gift of talking to cats and making fish fall from the sky. Somehow, Kafka and Nakata’s destinies are interconnected, and the whole book is about their journey. The book is extremely engrossing and entertaining. Now, as it usually happens with Murakami’s work, some of the questions have been left unanswered and some events have an open-ended interpretation. So, if you’re someone who likes straightforward stories, you might be disappointed on these fronts.
Favorite Quotes from the book:
- “Each person feels pain in his own way, each has his own scars.”
- “If you think God’s there, He is. If you don’t, He isn’t. And if that’s what God’s like, I wouldn’t worry about it.”
- “Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.”
- “If you remember me, then I don't care if everyone else forgets.”
- “Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back. That's part of what it means to be alive. But inside our heads - at least that's where I imagine it - there's a little room where we store those memories. A room like the stacks in this library. And to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making new reference cards. We have to dust things off every once in a while, let in fresh air, change the water in the flower vases. In other words, you'll live forever in your own private library.”
- “Silence, I discover, is something you can actually hear.”
- “Listen up - there's no war that will end all wars.”
- “Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.”
- “Closing your eyes isn't going to change anything. Nothing's going to disappear just because you can't see what's going on. In fact, things will even be worse the next time you open your eyes. That's the kind of world we live in. Keep your eyes wide open. Only a coward closes his eyes. Closing your eyes and plugging up your ears won't make time stand still.”
- “Chance encounters are what keep us going.”
- “Being with her I feel a pain, like a frozen knife stuck in my chest. An awful pain, but the funny thing is I'm thankful for it. It's like that frozen pain and my very existence are one.”
- “It's hard to tell the difference between sea and sky, between voyager and sea. Between reality and the workings of the heart.”
Images in this review
Reviewed in India on 19 July 2017
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Top reviews from other countries
Jaspreet S.
Good product
Reviewed in Canada on 1 December 2023Verified Purchase
José Zepeda
Una excelente obra narrativa de Murakami
Reviewed in Mexico on 18 May 2021Verified Purchase
José Zepeda
Reviewed in Mexico on 18 May 2021
Es una historia única, siendo un seguidor de Murakami y habiendo leído casi toda su bibliografía, me atrevo a decir que es una de sus novelas más imaginativas y variadas. A pesar del toque realista y nostálgico usual que se halla en sus obras, esta posee también algo que la hace ir más allá de lo que uno está acostumbrado normalmente del autor.
Lo compré a pesar de que mi lengua materna es el español (y la obra está en inglés), sin embargo, a diferencia de Killing Commendatore (La Muerte del Comendador), encontré la prosa de esta novela más amable y más sencilla de interpretar, por no decir concisa y menos ambigua. Me encantó! En definitiva es una de mis obras favoritas del autor, aunque si uno viene buscando algo romántico como Norwegian Wood, no creo que esta obra sea el lugar más adecuado para comenzar. Es más, esta me parece incluso mejor para refrescarse de lo habitual en las obras del autor. Excelente libro.
About the product: the book came just perfect, although it suprised me that it wasn't covered in plastic. The book was just as you see in the picture inside the shipping bag. Excelent edition. Although paperback, the pages are not as thin as in other books, which gives it a great and more uniform density, since it's less likely for it to become damaged.
Images in this review
David eschricht
Glued pages
Reviewed in Sweden on 28 May 2023Verified Purchase
Bryan Desmond
I’ve met you before. In another land, in another library.
Reviewed in the United States on 18 February 2021Verified Purchase
Joanna
Mágico
Reviewed in Spain on 15 February 2023Verified Purchase
