A surreal modern Greek tragedy written by a unique writer, described as one of the best alive. (Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami)

Member Name: Caewan

Product:	Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
Date:	19/08/09 (121 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Everything - It's enjoyable, complex, surreal and an all round exciting read!

Disadvantages: Characters aren't realistic, but so what? It's fiction!

I first came across Murakami months ago, advised by my partner I began reading. This is one of my favourite books by him. The story is unique, gripping and damn right weird! I've never read a book like it. Definitely a book for Murakami fans, or those who enjoy surrealism, it's not an easy read! And this certainly was not an easy thing to review! In fact, it has been my hardest so far, and I have put a good 3-4 hours into it!
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Murakami.

Starting his life in Post-war Japan, 1949, Murakami grew up in Kobe with his parents, both of whom taught Japanese literature. In his early life he studied Drama at University and opened a jazz café in Tokyo before graduating. After running the café for several years he quit to peruse his dream of becoming a novelist and after an early break where he won a 'promising new novelist' award, this dream soon became reality. As well as his life as a novelist, he has worked as a translator, as well as working at the University of Arizona as the head of Japanese. He enjoys marathons and triathlons, which he has written about in one of his newest books.
So far, during his career he has written many novels, fiction, as well as non-fiction and short stories, most of which have been translated into over 40 languages. He has received the Franz Kafka award, the Yomiuri prize, and the Kiriyama Prize as well as others for his work.
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Kafka on the Shore - Details.

This novel was first published in 2002 and translated into English in 2005 by J. Philip Gabriel. It is Murakamis' 10th novel. Page numbers vary; the hardback which I own is 505 pages long, other copies can be up to 656. Price varies also, from £5.99 for the paperback and £7 for the hardback on Amazon, and for the signed hardback, around £300.
Genre: Fiction; Surreal, Comedy, Romance.
Original Language: Japanese.
English Publisher: The Harvill Press (2005)
ISBN: 1-84343-110-6 (Hardback) and 1-84343-228-5(Paperback)
Themes include; Violence, Incest, Surrealism, Isolation, Magic, Suspense, Humour, Oedipus complex, Metaphysics.
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Kafka on the Shore - The plot.

Firstly I shall outline the very basics of the plot - I do not want to go into too much detail as I don't want to give much away - and I wouldn't doubt that it would require a whole book to go through the plot properly! Every chapter alternates between two characters. The first follows Kafka - the strongest 15 year old runaway, whereas the second follows Nakata - A lovable 'thick' old man. Eventually we find that their stories are interwoven and come together for an unexpected conclusion.

As with most Murakami books I have read, I start off not knowing what the hell is going on! Starting on chapter one, we follow the story of Kafka as he goes through with his plan to escape his life and his estranged sculptor father, as well as a prophecy which he bestowed on Kafka. Kafka runs away to Shikoku to start a new life, with no real plan. He believes he is free, but finds out his vision of freedom is far from freedom at all. After a while, and a possible murder committed by himself, he befriends a librarian at a privately owned library whom he finds he is able to confide in, and who helps him throughout the book with advice, and hiding.

"On my fifteenth birthday I'll run away from home, journey to a far-off town, and live in the corner of a library"

The other half of this book follows Nakata, a not so bright OAP, whom, strangely, can speak to cats! We find that he didn't always used to be thick, when he was young, an incident involving a UFO caused him and his classmates to collapse, after a while, they all became conscious - but Nakata remained unconscious for several weeks until he awoke unable to remember his life, or any skills.

"Nakata's not very bright, you see. I wasn't always this way, but when I was little I had an accident and I've been dumb ever since."

Nakata lives a pretty simple life, and because of his ability he has become quite the cat finder, as well as this he enjoys eel, all within the prefecture he lives in - he does not venture outside as he cannot read. After a strange night where he may have murdered someone, Nakata decides he must leave the comforts of his life and travel far far away in search of something - something which he doesn't know yet, but is confident that he will recognise. On the way he meets any people who are kind to him, and in particular, Hoshino who becomes almost a disciple of Nakata.
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Kafka on the Shore - The other bits.

Overall, the book is very complex; there are so many themes, and several riddles which require a lot of thought. Murakami himself said that the key to understanding the book is reading it several times. Much of the book focuses on the metaphysics, which can be very confusing, but personally I thought it was amazing! Basically, as well as the stories of Kafka and Nakata heading towards each other in the physical plane, they are also colliding in the metaphysical plane! You'll have to read it to understand fully. As well as this, the riddles I mentioned are superb! I think I understood one or two, but they're really quite complex.
The surrealism of the book is really quite amazing too, talking cats and soul collecting butchers, as well as ghosts and magical entrance stones!
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The Summary

Despite the fact that it is a very complex read, you could read it and not understand any of the riddles, and still enjoy it! It makes you think on every level, and can sometimes really test you.
The only things which let this book down for me include the fact that he uses a lot of quotes from authors I've never heard of - Kafka and Oshima swap them regularly, which makes the characters less believable as what 15 year old boy can recite quotes from Greek plays? Thinking about it though, this book is some place far, far away from reality. The other thing which lets this book down for me are that some of the chapters are too long, and you do not get anywhere through reading them. This isn't too much of a bother for me, as I'm never in a particular rush and I like to read a book for as long as I can - It's all about savouring and understanding for me :).

Overall, Murakami is a brilliant writer, this isn't his best, but he has set the bar so high for himself that does not matter - this is still a brilliant read and I would recommend it to anyone.

Thank you very much for reading.

Summary: If you are looking for something new, and unique, you've just found it.