PewDiePie's Literature Club discussion
February 2018
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Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
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Relaxingreader, Sayori
(last edited Jun 21, 2018 01:18AM)
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Jun 20, 2018 02:08PM
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This was such a great book, but I understand why he wasn’t sure about recommending it. The Oedipus section actually took up less time than I thought it would, and the book was overall enjoyable. Nakata along with the discussions of free will versus fate were uniquely intriguing. There was an interview with Haruki, where he claims the book can’t be fully understood without multiple rereads, so I’m interested to hear anyone’s theories, and I’ll post mine here.
Did anyone else think maybe the white, fruit-like thing from Nakata‘s body was somehow connected to the flute player/Johnny Walker? In my mind, he represented fate, evidenced when he facilitated Kafka’s father’s murder, the gate opening/closing, and the conversation he had with the lorry driver about his neutrality. It would explain why Crow attacked him so violently in the forest, because Kafka hated his fate and was running from him.
For a while, I thought maybe Johnny Walker WAS the white thing, but he seems too powerful to have been killed and chopped up so easily afterward. Unless his physical form is really far far weaker than his purgatory/spirit self. I still want to know more about him.
Did Kafka’s “mom” open up the gate originally to go through the gate to the forest because it was a place where the inhabitants lose their memories? And then somehow only part of her stuck there as a 15 yr old? Then what was all that crap with the teacher having her period (WEIRD shit btw. This would have been a 5 star book if not for all the strange sexual stuff).
The only things I’m sure of at the end of this is: the writing and feel was phenomenal, I’m going to read more from this author, and I will love Nakata forever.
I would have thought there would be a connection between the super-period the teacher had and the "sister" never getting her period. I suspect that was a threat that Murakami started that he never got around to tying up. You can't read any of his books without the "weird sexual stuff."I thought it was obvious that the white fruit thing was Johnny Walker, but maybe I misunderstood.
