Enter the Mad World of Haruki Murakami (Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami)

Member Name: Puggers

Product:	Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
Date:	17/01/09 (72 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stong, memorable characters, some wonderful sections

Disadvantages: Some weak sections drag on; inconsistent

Kafka Tamura is a runaway fifteen year-old with a great deal on his conscience, not least a possible murder. That said, he's not sure who the victim was or how he may have done it. Nakata is an elderly gentleman who isn't so bright, although he can talk to cats, and tends not to be far away from strange goings-on whenever they occur. Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore relates the converging journeys these two characters must take as they try to make sense of their own places in the greater scheme of things and come to terms with their roles in the events which await them.

Both characters are searching for something, although neither knows entirely what. Kafka escapes his heartless father in an attempt to better understand himself and perhaps track down his long-missing mother and sister, with a prophetic warning ringing in his ears. Nakata is even less certain of what it is he'll find when he sets out from his home (something he hasn't done in years), he is only sure that he'll recognise it when he sees it. Humble and accepting of his mental limitations, Nakata is confident of his own peculiar destiny.

"Peculiar" is a relative term, of course. Within a Murakami novel, it is a quite normal part of the whole, if not for the characters, then certainly for the reader. It is the author's skill to make the weird feel commonplace and quite logical. He does not do this by offering plausible explanations for strange occurrences - they are rarely justified - rather, he puts together a world in which everything feels quite possible and acceptable. We get the impression that there lies a wealth of complex machinations just beyond the frame the author shows us, and feel comfortable when fish fall from the sky, cats converse, trumpets are made out of taken souls and semi-sentient stones unlock doorways of great consequence.

Murakami's narrative takes turns focusing upon Kafka and Nakata, alternate chapters relaying the stories, with Kafka's tale related in the first person, Nakata's in the third. Consequently, Kafka's side of the story is introspective and analytical, revolving around his troubled, deprived family life and his explorations of the person this has made him. Nakata is a different proposition, and brings something different to the novel. As a character, he is naturally something of a detached observer, not prone to self-analysis, and the third person perspective furthers this effect; all that happens around Nakata is presented, matter-of-fact and unchallenged. Partway through the story, another character, Hoshino, a disillusioned lorry driver, leaves his unsatisfying life behind to join Nakata, and offers some insight into events, but he too is generally happy to accept what he sees. The novel, then, rocks back and forth in style and plot, and while this is occasionally a little disjointed, the reader generally benefits from the swiftly moving focus. Without it, some parts of the novel, mostly those narrated by Kafka, would become slightly heavy-going.

The strength of this book really lies in its characters - the plot is relatively straightforward up until the conclusion, whilst we concentrate mainly on the developments that go on inside our protagonists. Nakata is an especially enduring figure, and drives the narrative throughout the book. On occasions the story appears to slow to the point where it doesn't really seem to be going anywhere at all, but this character's patience and faith that all will work out if you just let it are traits that seem to be required of the reader as well. A little patience allows the novel to move forward and pull you in again when you thought you were losing interest.

I read Murakami's Wind-up Bird Chronicles previous to this, and while I don't think I enjoyed Kafka on the Shore to quite the same extent, it was still a diverting, largely entertaining novel. The waning engagement described above is a small negative, I suppose, as I did feel the book frequently moved from moments of great interest and promise to periods of excessive down-time and slightly tedious, over-elaborate descriptions of a character's state of mind. This lack of consistency becomes slightly wearing about halfway through, and takes a while to recover. Nonetheless, for strong characters, some fantastically imagined moments of weirdness and an ultimately rewarding plot, I never felt that time spent reading this was wasted.

Summary: A bit hit-and-miss, but the hits are so wonderful, this is a memorable read.