Post by Taika of Narfell on Jan 6, 2007 5:25:58 GMT 1
I saw this book in the book shop, the black cat on the tasteful cover intrigued me. I inquired online about the author and the title and was told much good about both. The back cover blurb did not leave me any less intrigued. Here's what it says:
"Kafka on the Shore follows the fortunes of two remarkable characters. Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under the shadow of his father's dark prophecy. The ageing Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his simple life suddenly turned upsude down. Their parallel odysseys are enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerising dramas. Cats converse with people; fish tumble from the sky; a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-aged since WWII. There is a savage killing, but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle.
At once a classic tale of quest, Kafka on the Shore is also a bold exploration of mythic and contemporary taboos, of patricide, of mother-love, of sister-love. Above all it as a bewitching and wildly inventive novel from a master stylist."
This is possibly the weirdest novel I have ever read. But it is weird in a good way. I'd say it classifies for surreal.
The plot-lines are not so much story-lines as they are the individual characters' motivations for being where they are and doing what they do. There are old medical reports from back when Nakata suffered from the affliction he never recovered from, there is the story of Kafka who's traveling across Japan looking for his lost mother and sister.
Everytime Kafka establishes any sort of relation with a female it is always clear in his mind that this woman might be his sister or his mother. It is really quite disturbing at times, but at the same time it is also deeply fascinating because while he's questing across Japan to get away from his old life, he's also questing inwards to find out who he is and who he wants to be. He's reading a lot and hangs out around libraries, and the people he meet there carry his story further. Eventually he makes friend with two people who could be his lost family and yet we all know that they're not. And while he gets closer to them without really getting any closer new relations start to develop. It's a truly fascinating exploration of how people's pasts can lead them into such truly weird situations.
There are frequent references to The Boy Named Crow. As magic is not completely ruled out in this story, Crow can truly be a talking, thinking crow, but more than likely it is Kafka's alter ego that he's had frequent conversations with.
Nakata's story is perchance weirder. Since his childhood affliction he cannot make sense of human letters and numbers, but he can talk to cats. We hear many an engaging conversation about whether tuna or eel is preferable. Nakata's lack of skill in the human language causes many interesting interpretations of words. The one I remember best is that in his mind the governor is giving him a sub-city. Not the system, not social security, no the governor in person gives him this sub-city which is money for which he can buy food. The governor is a very nice and friendly man in Nakata's mind, though he's never met him. It's an overly simplified view of the world that we're getting through Nakata, but his ways are simple only compared to the normal humans in human society. Nakata and the cats he talks to have their very own veiws about how the world works and why, this contrast is explored fully and to great detail through Murakami's writing, thus making it completely natural for this old man to speak with cats. What else would he be doing?
The plot lines never meet up, though I sat there expecting that at some point Kafka and Nakata would meet somehow. But they don't. They each have their paranormal experiences and they are somehow timed so that it seems their experiences in this surreal landscape are parallel and connected, but whether they are is up to the reader's imagination. While Kafka's quest leads him to discoveries in our real world, Nakata's quest leads him to the paranormal or surreal world, and while Kafka's quest leads him to the painting that gave the book its title, Nakata's quest leads him to pass on his gift to a successor through a very peculiar process involving traveling the roads in a lorry and listening to classical music.
It is seldom that I say such a thing, but I cannot find flaw with this book. It's a very particular style of writing and will not appeal to everyone, but if you can handle surrealism and an outside walk through the human psyche this is the book for you. It is a masterpiece and one of the best books I have ever read.
I haven't felt so full after having finished a book since I finished The Brothers Karamazov, and that says something. Kafka on the Shore will not appeal to everyone since it *is* a very peculiar book, but to those who read because they appreciate good literature and/or surrealism and/or exploring the human mind this is highly recommendable. No, it is in fact a must-read. One of the best books I've ever read.
"Kafka on the Shore follows the fortunes of two remarkable characters. Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under the shadow of his father's dark prophecy. The ageing Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his simple life suddenly turned upsude down. Their parallel odysseys are enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerising dramas. Cats converse with people; fish tumble from the sky; a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-aged since WWII. There is a savage killing, but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle.
At once a classic tale of quest, Kafka on the Shore is also a bold exploration of mythic and contemporary taboos, of patricide, of mother-love, of sister-love. Above all it as a bewitching and wildly inventive novel from a master stylist."
This is possibly the weirdest novel I have ever read. But it is weird in a good way. I'd say it classifies for surreal.
The plot-lines are not so much story-lines as they are the individual characters' motivations for being where they are and doing what they do. There are old medical reports from back when Nakata suffered from the affliction he never recovered from, there is the story of Kafka who's traveling across Japan looking for his lost mother and sister.
Everytime Kafka establishes any sort of relation with a female it is always clear in his mind that this woman might be his sister or his mother. It is really quite disturbing at times, but at the same time it is also deeply fascinating because while he's questing across Japan to get away from his old life, he's also questing inwards to find out who he is and who he wants to be. He's reading a lot and hangs out around libraries, and the people he meet there carry his story further. Eventually he makes friend with two people who could be his lost family and yet we all know that they're not. And while he gets closer to them without really getting any closer new relations start to develop. It's a truly fascinating exploration of how people's pasts can lead them into such truly weird situations.
There are frequent references to The Boy Named Crow. As magic is not completely ruled out in this story, Crow can truly be a talking, thinking crow, but more than likely it is Kafka's alter ego that he's had frequent conversations with.
Nakata's story is perchance weirder. Since his childhood affliction he cannot make sense of human letters and numbers, but he can talk to cats. We hear many an engaging conversation about whether tuna or eel is preferable. Nakata's lack of skill in the human language causes many interesting interpretations of words. The one I remember best is that in his mind the governor is giving him a sub-city. Not the system, not social security, no the governor in person gives him this sub-city which is money for which he can buy food. The governor is a very nice and friendly man in Nakata's mind, though he's never met him. It's an overly simplified view of the world that we're getting through Nakata, but his ways are simple only compared to the normal humans in human society. Nakata and the cats he talks to have their very own veiws about how the world works and why, this contrast is explored fully and to great detail through Murakami's writing, thus making it completely natural for this old man to speak with cats. What else would he be doing?
The plot lines never meet up, though I sat there expecting that at some point Kafka and Nakata would meet somehow. But they don't. They each have their paranormal experiences and they are somehow timed so that it seems their experiences in this surreal landscape are parallel and connected, but whether they are is up to the reader's imagination. While Kafka's quest leads him to discoveries in our real world, Nakata's quest leads him to the paranormal or surreal world, and while Kafka's quest leads him to the painting that gave the book its title, Nakata's quest leads him to pass on his gift to a successor through a very peculiar process involving traveling the roads in a lorry and listening to classical music.
It is seldom that I say such a thing, but I cannot find flaw with this book. It's a very particular style of writing and will not appeal to everyone, but if you can handle surrealism and an outside walk through the human psyche this is the book for you. It is a masterpiece and one of the best books I have ever read.
I haven't felt so full after having finished a book since I finished The Brothers Karamazov, and that says something. Kafka on the Shore will not appeal to everyone since it *is* a very peculiar book, but to those who read because they appreciate good literature and/or surrealism and/or exploring the human mind this is highly recommendable. No, it is in fact a must-read. One of the best books I've ever read.