Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group in January 2006
Source: bought it
Publisher's Summary:
Kafka on the Shore is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom.
As their paths converge, and the reasons for that convergence become clear, Haruki Murakami enfolds readers in a world where cats talk, fish fall from the sky, and spirits slip out of their bodies to make love or commit murder.
My Thoughts:
I read this one with Ti of Book Chatter, an avid Murakami fan who first introduced me to Murakami in 2013 when we read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle as part of a readalong. It was such twisty fun that I couldn't resist asking Ti if I could read along with her when she said she was going to reread Kafka On The Shore.
Oh, Murakami - you really do such marvelously strange things to my mind. I doubt there's another author who could get me to read a scene about mutilating and killing cats and have me not throwing the book out the window. Come to think of it, you would have had a hard time convincing me that I would enjoy a book that included talking cats, falling eels, men making love to their mothers. But I did, I really did enjoy it. That's the magic of Haruki Murakami.
Woven into all of that craziness is a realistic story about a young man desperate for love and a simple old man who suddenly finds the world he's known turned upside down. Sure there is a village straight out of "Brigadoon," but there are also marvelous friendships and fragile characters. Maybe it turns out that I actually like fantasy. But I think my fondness for Murakami lies in his ability to make me forget I'm reading a literary novel that just happens to have fantasy elements...like spirits that move at will.
Okay this is an author I need to try. This sounds crazy and like nothing I would like but this review really makes me want to try his books!
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy but you do just have to let yourself relax and go with it. Ti, who has read everything of his, tells me that she doesn't think there is a deeper meaning, that Murakami just writes what comes into his head so I was able to read this one without worrying as much that I was missing something.
DeleteThat is exactly it! When I read Murakami, I am completely removed from my current world and totally immersed in his. His books are great escape reads and I cannot stand fantasy or magical realism but for some reason I don't consider his books part if those genres.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that Murakami's books fit into any genre, which is part of what makes them so great.
DeleteI think you explained quite well why I'm afraid to try this one by Haruki Murakami. :-) I really do want to give it a try one day though. I will. I just have to get over my intimidation of his work.
ReplyDeleteTi says, from what she's learned about him, she doesn't think Murakami is writing a book with deep hidden meanings. Let's readers just take what they can from what he's written.
Delete