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Kafka on the Shore

Haruki Murakami,

Philip Gabriel (Translator)

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Oct 08, 2009 Maria Elmvang rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, not-owned, cultural, 2-stars

I'm not entirely sure it deserves such a low rating, because I think my problems with it more than anything stem from the fact that I didn't understand it. At least I hope that's the case, and that the symbolisms just went waaaay over my head, because the alternative is that this is a very, very, very strange book. We're talking Ib Michael strange!

Despite its strangeness, I have to admit it was really well written though. There's not much plot in it, but the characters drew me in completely, and ...more

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Aug 18, 2008 Rachel rated it liked it

For a page-turner about a boy who runs away from home to live in a library and fulfill and Oedipal prophecy, this wasn't bad, but I was expecting more from Murakami. His constant references to clothing brands and modern music did make the story more real, but to me these same things will make the novel really alienating to future readers who won't know Radiohead from Prince. There was a lot of philosophical name-dropping too, which felt kind of superficial.

All bashing aside, there were some gre ...more

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Mar 24, 2011 Joanie rated it liked it

Shelves: 1001-book-list, audio-book, 2011

While I can appreciate Murakami's creativity and talent, I didn't necessarily love this. I am far too literal minded for Slipstream, I just end up confused. In the end I stopped trying to figure it out and just kind of went with it which seemed to work well. You just have to get comfortable with unanswered questions. ...more

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Apr 08, 2008 Arthur rated it really liked it

Two interlocking stories in the same vein as Hard-boiled Wonderland & the End of the World which come together in the end but not in the way you would expect. The ending is intentionally ambiguous but the clues are there to allow your mind to formulate an answer, which was interesting. On the whole I enjoyed the storyline about Kafka better than the Nakata storyline which is why I gave it 4 stars. It was nice to read a Murakami book again after several years of reading other things.

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