Kafka on the Shore

by Haruki Murakami

“That things in life are fated by our previous lives. That even in the smallest events there’s no such thing as coincidence.”

“In ancient times people weren’t just male or female, but one of three types: male/male, male/female, or female/female. In other words, each person was made out of the components of two people. Everyone was happy with this arrangement and never really gave it much thought. But then God took a knife and cut everybody in half, right down the middle. So after that the world was divided just into male and female, the upshot being

Tolstoy said. Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story.

“Someday you will murder your father and be with your mother, he said.”

“Having an object that symbolizes freedom might make a person happier than actually getting the freedom it represents.”