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 prophesy. The aging Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his pleasantly simplified life suddenly turned upside down. Their parallel odysseys are enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerising dramas. Cats converse with people; fish tumble from the sky; a ghostlike pimp deploys a Hegel-spouting girl of the night; 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. Murakami's novel is at once a classic quest, but it is also a bold exploration of mythic and contemporary taboos, of patricide, of mother-love, of sister-love. Above all it is a bewitching and wildly inventive novel from a master stylist.
Staff Review:
A beautiful story intertwining the lives of a runaway teenager and an elderly gentleman as they both endure otherworldly experiences bordering on both the alien and the supernatural - highly reminiscent of Shinto paranormal beliefs. It is a unique read exploring the relationships between dreams and reality, out of body experiences, abstract existence and reincarnation. In short, simply mind blowing. Definitely worth reading.
