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Kafka on the Shore

Haruki Murakami,

Philip Gabriel (Translator)

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Oct 13, 2009 Jackie "the Librarian" rated it it was amazing

Shelves: magic, adultfiction, blood-sucking-fiends, bildungsroman

Kafka by the Shore is about searching, for what is missing, for escape, for answers. The main character, a 15-year-old who changes his name to Kafka and takes off from home, is looking for a way to escape both his father and a curse. But he's also looking for his mother and sister, who left when he was four. He's never gotten over it.

Nakata, an old man who can talk to cats, but who can't read, is searching for the part of himself that was separated from him in a strange incident when he was just Kafka by the Shore is about searching, for what is missing, for escape, for answers. The main character, a 15-year-old who changes his name to Kafka and takes off from home, is looking for a way to escape both his father and a curse. But he's also looking for his mother and sister, who left when he was four. He's never gotten over it.

Nakata, an old man who can talk to cats, but who can't read, is searching for the part of himself that was separated from him in a strange incident when he was just a boy on a class field trip. After a horrific encounter with a strange figure who kidnaps cats and does horrible things to them (my least favorite part of the book, as you might expect), Nakata feels even less himself, and is compelled to go south, following the route Kafka took. There's a stone he must find...

Miss Saeki, the elegant librarian in charge of the private library Kafka finds refuge in, searched for a way to reunite with her love, who died in the war, and opened a gate. Since then, she too has been missing half her self. Can you have a ghost, even if you're still alive?

Kafka finds himself defiantly fulfilling the curse to free himself from it. Nakata may only become whole again in the next life, but his search brings wholeness to a young truck driver named Hoshino, whose life was just as empty as Nakata's in its own way. And Miss Saeki is able to make amends to those she hurt out of her sense of loss, and can finally find release, in more ways than one.

The world these characters live in is a strange one, and doesn't fulfill quests in typical ways. It leaves a lot unexplained. I still don't understand the appearance of Colonel Sanders, for example. Why does a Japanese novelist choose an American logo as an avatar for a spirit, and not a Japanese one? Okay, that's not important. But I would have liked to know more about Kafka's father and sister, and I could use a whole book just about Miss Saeki. This book satisfied me, and yet left me wanting more. And, I wish I could talk to cats. ...more

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Mar 24, 2011 Joanie rated it liked it

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

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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