Blurb:
Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under the shadow of his father’s dark prophesy.
The ageing Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his pleasantly simplified life suddenly turned upside down.
As their parallel odysseys unravel, cats converse with people; fish tumble from the sky; a ghost-like pimp deploys a Hegel-spouting girl of the night; a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-aged since World War II. There is a savage killing, but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle – one of many which combine to create an elegant and dreamlike masterpiece.
Review:
Review of Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
” ๐๐๐ข ๐ ๐๐ก ๐๐ก ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ค๐๐๐๐,
๐ผ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ก ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐.
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐๐กโ๐๐ข๐ก ๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐๐
๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ โ๐๐๐๐ค ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐.
๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ โ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ค๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐,
๐ฟ๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ ๐๐๐ โ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ค๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ ๐๐ฆ.
๐๐ข๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ค๐๐๐๐๐ค ๐กโ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ,
๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐.
(๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐)
๐พ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐โ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐กโ๐ ๐ โ๐๐๐,
๐โ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ข๐๐ข๐ ๐กโ๐๐ก ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ค๐๐๐๐,
๐๐ก ๐ ๐๐๐๐ .
๐โ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ โ๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐,
๐โ๐ ๐ โ๐๐๐๐ค ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐๐โ๐๐๐ฅ,
๐ต๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ .
๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐’๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
๐๐๐๐๐โ ๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ก๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐.
๐ฟ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ โ๐๐ ๐๐ โ๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ,
๐โ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ —
๐๐ก ๐พ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ โ๐๐๐. ”
๐๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐จ๐๐๐ซ๐ง ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฒ.
This storm is you- something inside you. This book is all about time travel intermingled with magic realism.
The parallels of Kafka and Nakata are perilous trails and keeps this book moving forever. Talk about KFC, Johny Walker, Led Zeppelin, Prince in an epic story and wow- every single character is fleshed out as real.
Murakamiโs work is between a reedy line of magic and realism. The plot converges and diverges with there is no conclusion.
The oedipal curse that Kafka faces may not be the central theme but one of the greatest elements of Murakamiโs writing here.
Even if we call it an oedipal myth, Myths are like a reservoir containing every story there is.
The characters, then, who are fixated (Saeki, Kafka’s father, Johnny Walker, and even to an extent Crow) are centres of unhappiness. Oshima, Nakata, and Colonel Sanders, conversely, are middles of wisdom and possibility, precisely because they neither insist on nor are subject to misapprehensions of permanence
Well, the secret to understanding the novel lies in reading it several times as Murakami suggested.
This one is an insistently metaphysical mind-bender that would ask you to re-read again and again till your soul realizes the soul of this book.
My favourite read of 2019.