Pookie_gal
01-17-2005, 06:04 AM
I really enjoy reading Murakami's novels, and since Kafka On The Shore came out, I couldn't wait to read it. So here's my review of it.
:: KAFKA ON THE SHORE, by Haruki Murakami.
Haruki Murakami is famous for his entertaining and wacky stories exploring the human psyche, and Kafka On The Shore is no exception. Fans have been eagerly awaiting this novel, his longest since The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
They won’t be disappointed either. The novel follows the journey of two characters - Kafka Tamura, a 15-year-old schoolboy who has run away from home to escape an Oedipal prophecy and to find his missing mother and sister, and Nakata, an old man who never recovered from a wartime incident and has the ability to talk to cats.
As their paths intertwine following the brutal murder of Kafka’s father, whose killer is never revealed, Kafka and Nakata meet interesting acquaintances. Being a Murakami novel, it’s not without its odd turns and twists.
Rainstorms of fish and leeches fall out of the sky, a pimp introduces himself as KFC creator Colonel Sanders, and there’s a prostitute who quotes Hegel. And the murder of whisky man Johnnie Walker, who collects the souls of cats, is closely interlinked to the murder of Kafka’s dad.
Read beyond the words, and you’ll see the novel is actually about identity - Kafka’s searching for his mother and sister to find who he really is, and once Nakata loses his ability to converse with feline friends, he finds himself lost.
The title of the novel, Kafka On The Shore, refers to many things - the title of a song, and a painting, as well as the protagonist’s name. There are also plenty of mentions of Jewish-Czech writer Franz Kafka, author of Metamorphosis and The Trial.
Like any Murakami novel, there’s no clear-cut ending, but that’s where your imagination can come in. A fantastic read.
If you've never read a Murakami novel before, then this might not be the best one to start off with. I would recommend something more realistic like Norwegian Wood or South Of The Border, West Of The Sun. If you've read his stuff before, you'll see similarities between this one and Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - the cat theme etc.
:: KAFKA ON THE SHORE, by Haruki Murakami.
Haruki Murakami is famous for his entertaining and wacky stories exploring the human psyche, and Kafka On The Shore is no exception. Fans have been eagerly awaiting this novel, his longest since The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
They won’t be disappointed either. The novel follows the journey of two characters - Kafka Tamura, a 15-year-old schoolboy who has run away from home to escape an Oedipal prophecy and to find his missing mother and sister, and Nakata, an old man who never recovered from a wartime incident and has the ability to talk to cats.
As their paths intertwine following the brutal murder of Kafka’s father, whose killer is never revealed, Kafka and Nakata meet interesting acquaintances. Being a Murakami novel, it’s not without its odd turns and twists.
Rainstorms of fish and leeches fall out of the sky, a pimp introduces himself as KFC creator Colonel Sanders, and there’s a prostitute who quotes Hegel. And the murder of whisky man Johnnie Walker, who collects the souls of cats, is closely interlinked to the murder of Kafka’s dad.
Read beyond the words, and you’ll see the novel is actually about identity - Kafka’s searching for his mother and sister to find who he really is, and once Nakata loses his ability to converse with feline friends, he finds himself lost.
The title of the novel, Kafka On The Shore, refers to many things - the title of a song, and a painting, as well as the protagonist’s name. There are also plenty of mentions of Jewish-Czech writer Franz Kafka, author of Metamorphosis and The Trial.
Like any Murakami novel, there’s no clear-cut ending, but that’s where your imagination can come in. A fantastic read.
If you've never read a Murakami novel before, then this might not be the best one to start off with. I would recommend something more realistic like Norwegian Wood or South Of The Border, West Of The Sun. If you've read his stuff before, you'll see similarities between this one and Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - the cat theme etc.