Book Notes: Kafka On The Shore

I’ve finally finished Haruki Murakami’s new novel Kafka On The Shore, and it was an entertaining read. I’m not sure where it ranks among his other books yet. I have to evaluate it in retrospect of what I remember about the other books I’ve read, some of which were four years ago or longer. It is another mysterious search for meaning and self-definition in the face of evil. There are several loose ends that don’t quite get tied up in the end, but Murakami’s novels often end up like this. You are often left to draw your own conclusions about the novel’s meaning. As usual, there are several motifs and digressions about the individual’s fate in society vs. free will, the existence of another world separate from everyday reality, fantastical elements intercede with everyday life. However, it is done in a way so that it seems completely normal and a necessary part of the story. I think the narration is a major departure in that it is form the point of view of the 15 year old Kafka Tamura and mentally challenged Nakata. Kafka must come to terms with his father’s premonition that he will be with his sister and mother, and kill his father. Nakata, an old man who had a mysterious accident as a child that has made him a sort of autistic adult with the ability to talk to cats, goes on a journey to set the world right before dying. During the course of the novel we encounter Johnny Walker, as a cat murderer and physic representation of evil, Colonel Sanders, as a pimp and seer, fish and leeches fall from the sky, and there’s another “pure love lost-story not unlike what we first saw in Norwegian Wood. This is his longest novel since The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, and it really allows you to get to know the characters as they move toward their respective fates.

Comments

[phatrick]

I'm in the middle of reading it right now. I'm enjoying at the moment, but from your review I have the feeling I'll be left at the end wondering what the hell happened. I also noticed reviews in the NY Times recetly and the New Yorker, but haven't read them as I didn't want anything given away.

By the way, ran into Kraig last night at the Ravenna Ale House for a trivia contest.

[MC]

I read a couple of reviews while in the middle of it (Salon, Time, and somewhere else)-I couldn't help myself. I don't really think they gave anything away about the story. After reading the story, I went to your friend's Randomhouse site and read the translator's discussion on translating Murakami, which was interesting-I think it comes from Slate, but I'm not sure.

My brother mentioned seing you guys.