From the Bookshelf of Reading with Namjoon…

Kafka on the Shore

Haruki Murakami,

Philip Gabriel (Translator)

Start date: February 1, 2021

Finish date: May 1, 2021

Discussion: Novels

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By E L K Y · 3 posts · 75 views

last updated Jul 18, 2023 09:29AM

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By E L K Y · 6 posts · 83 views

last updated Oct 08, 2022 03:07AM

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Sep 20, 2021 Ami 乁⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠o⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠ㄏ (written by Jane Austen) rated it really liked it

Shelves: rm-recommended

If ever a story was weaved out of a dream, this book would surely be the result. I went into this particular read with a lot of misgivings because most people I knew said that this was confusing and more or less ungraspable but the more I read, the more I realised that this book is a metaphor. For what? That's for the person reading to figure out. Maybe a dream, maybe life itself.

It's not as if there's no story in it. In fact, the story is very much a linear progression of events, giving us hin ...more

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Dec 17, 2020 Ellie Pahbo rated it really liked it

Shelves: wtf

Listen, if you're weak-hearted, I suggest you don't read this book.
There are a couple warnings I feel you should know before reading this, and this is especially important to those who are sensitive to these subjects:

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸, it does not promote it, it strongly suggests against it, but there is an entire chapter where animals (cats) are abused.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀. I honestly had to close this book multiple times and just...take a breathe Listen, if you're weak-hearted, I suggest you don't read this book.
There are a couple warnings I feel you should know before reading this, and this is especially important to those who are sensitive to these subjects:

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸, it does not promote it, it strongly suggests against it, but there is an entire chapter where animals (cats) are abused.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀. I honestly had to close this book multiple times and just...take a breather. There are gruesome scenes, yeah, but there are also scenes where it morally just does not sit right at all.

Okay, now we got the tw's out of the way, I can talk a little bit more about this story.

If I were to describe this book in a couple words, it would be "an abstract painting."

It's about this fifteen-year-old boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home. Alongside that, a story of an old man named "Nakata" and a truck-driver (Hoshino) is being told as well. The author uses an extensive use of vocabulary and metaphors to the point where you might as well be reading the book upside-down. It describes concepts that are very difficult to grasp and usually takes a while before it clicks. It might be because I have a total of three braincells, but it took a couple of chapters before it hit me that "the boy named crow" was not an actual boy. But it's also beautifully written: it talks about philosophy and trying to find out what your purpose in life really is. That's what I got out of it anyway.

But as messed up and bizarre this story is (Colonel Sanders makes an appearance as well), I feel like it was a good use of my time. Even though there were multiple times where I physically stood up and screamed "NAMJOON, WHY?" for I wouldn't have read this story if it weren't recommended by him. It was honestly a sort of an "Out-of-body" experience. The plot is all over the place, but in that philosophical sense that makes you feel like 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 the one who's at fault for not being able to get a meaning out of it. The readers have to use all of their brain power to just process what the heck is going on.

Going back on the "abstract painting" topic, this story is the most abstract of paintings. Whenever I look at abstract paintings (the ones with just splatters of paint), I can never conclude something from it. I don't care if it expresses "curiosity" or "anger"; it's just a canvas with splatters of paint and in my eyes it forever will be just that. That's what parts of this book are like, sometimes they don't make sense, sometimes they make too much sense. It sometimes switches to 2nd person pov as well. Honestly, everything after the trigger warnings is just a long rant, not exactly even a review at this point.

Anyway, those were my two cents on the topics, it's honestly worth a read unless you are sensitive to the topics I mentioned above. Happy reading! ...more

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Jul 19, 2021 Meghan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: asian-works, read-on-kindle

I really liked the writing. I was super into it in the beginning but it just felt like the story was going no where with boring details for so long I totally lost interest. It took me longer than average to finish this book and since I wasn’t interested I was confused at the ending. Definitely an odd book.

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Jul 20, 2022 Audrie rated it really liked it

Really interesting. There’s a lot going on and the whole book is a bunch of metaphors. I liked Murakami’s inventiveness but overall I wasn’t a huge fan of the content. I mean it was a decent read, but it was kinda giving me “I’m quirky” vibes tbh. Still pretty good tho.

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