Kafka on the Shore [Hardcover]

"The world is a metaphor..." (465)

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami is a difficult novel to understand, and the ending is not detailed. This is one of those novels that Murakami suggested should be read more than once to fully comprehend.

I thoroughly enjoyed the references to Greek tragedies and philosophy. And the translation of his prose was magnificent. As always, it seemed as though you were reading poetry because the words fit so well together.

The story itself seems to be inspired by Greek tragedy, mainly Oedipus Rex. Nothing was told about how the oedipal prophecy came to be, but with the hints given through out the narrative, and with the aide of Johnnie Walker, one can suspect the origins. I believe that this is a story about fate, and how it has the power to bring people together.

If you do not like the story, than at least you can appreciate the ingenious way the story is plotted and the way that the characters' dialogues were crafted. Through some of the dialogues, it seems as though Murakami is trying to let the world know about his tastes in music and literature. The journey of the characters is quite an adventure, that when looked back it, seems odd yet remarkable. The most interesting character, I found, was Oshima, the one with who Kafka had intellectual conversations with regarding literature and told many of his theories to.

"Waves of consciousness roll in, roll out, leave some writing, and just as quickly new waves roll in and erase it. I try to quickly read what's written there, between one wave and the next, but it's hard. Before I can read it the next wave's washed it away. All that's left are puzzling fragments." This seems to be what the title and the story are about. Kafka goes into the world of his conscious and subconscious mind, but can never fully put into words what he learns from the experience. Thus, you must attempt to decipher it yourself. Near the end, we learn that the other world that the characters experienced was in fact the same place.

Like Murakami's `Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World,' this novel consists of two stories running parallel to one another. The odd numbered chapters are of Kafka, which are written in first-person and in present tense, and the even numbered chapters are about Nakata, which are written in third-person in past tense.

Throughout the entire story, Murakami tries to demonstrate that "Things outside you are projections of what's inside you, and what's inside you is a projection of what's outside." (352) Oshima says that human intestines were the prototype of a labyrinth for the ancient Mesopotamians. "So when you step into the labyrinth outside you, at the same time you're stepping into the labyrinth inside." (352) With this in mind, you will notice that throughout the story, dreams are as real as reality.

Read the prologue after completing the novel.

DISCRIPTION:

Kafka Tamura, in the beginning, is seen talking to "the boy named Crow," which seems to be in inner voice, about running away on his fifteenth birthday. And he does run away, from his father, from the terrible prophecy that his father used to mention to Kafka, telling him that there was no way he could avoid it. Kafka was prophesied to kill his father, and be with his mother and sister.

Kafka finally understood what the prophecy meant when he was older. However, his mother had taken left him when he was a child, taking his sister with her, and he could not remember how the two looked like.

Kafka goes on an odd adventure, where he meets Sakura, who he suspects to be his sister. And visits a private library, where he meets distinct characters, such as Oshima, the desk clerk who Kafka often asks for advice, and Miss Seiki, the head of the library, who seems to be living in the past. Kafka even stays in a cabin surrounded by a forest alone, reflecting on his life. Can Kafka escape the prophecy and change his fate? Or, like in Oedipus Rex, is fate's tug too strong for a mortal man?

In the concurrent story, Satoru Nakata, an old man, who when he was a child had lost his memory in odd circumstances. He lives alone, he is illiterate, but he can talk to cats. Cats, we learn, do not remember things as humans do because they have no sense of time. And like cats, Nakata lives in the present and accepts things as they are.

While searching for a cat that someone asked him to, Nakata goes on an unexpected adventure, meeting the cat killer, Johnnie Walker, and is led by fate to where he must go. Where he must go is what he does not know until the time comes. What mission much Nakata accomplish? Why does he only have half a shadow - a shadow that is lighter than a regular person's? Will an illiterate man be successful in accomplishing his mission?

QUOTES:

"Silence, I discover, is something you can actually hear." (138)

"There's only one kind of happiness, but misfortune comes in all shapes and sizes. It's like Tolstoy said. Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story." (157)

"`The pure present is an ungraspable advance of the past devouring the future. In truth, all sensation is already memory.'" (273, quoted from Henri Bergson's Matter and Memory)

"`At the same time that `I' am the content of a relation, `I' am also that which does the relating.'" (274, quoted from Hegel)

"But beyond any of those details of the real, there are dreams. And everyone's living in them." (300)

Compared to 'After Dark', my first Murakami novel, 'Kafka on the Shore' is rather more leisurely, a bit rambling, but just as delicious.

Intruiged, I purchased Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore the week it won the World Fantasy Award in 2005. It's been sitting there on my shelf for the last couple of years, awaiting my attention. And recently, it kept moving up in the rotation. In the end, I caved in and finally decided to give it a shot.

Why wait for so long? Well, perusing reviews and related material, I soon learned that a vasy chunk of the author's readership never understood the novel. Back in 2002, Haruki Murakami's Japanese publisher set up a website on which readers were invited to submit questions regarding the meaning of the book. More than 8000 questions were received. And according to Murakami, the secret to understanding the novel lies in reading it multiple times. "Kafka on the Shore contains several riddles, but there aren't any solutions provided. Instead, several of these riddles combine, and through their interaction the possibility of a solution takes shape. And the form this solution takes will be different for each reader. To put it another way, the riddles function as part of the solution. It's hard to explain, but that's the kind of novel I set out to write," the author tried to explain. All in all, it didn't inspire a whole lot of confidence in me.

Still, my curiosity was piqued and I knew I'd read it, hopefully sooner than later. . .

Here's the blurb:

An unusual and mesmerising novel from the cult Japanese author.

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 an entertainment of a very high order.

Haruki Murakami has an uncanny gift when it comes to set the mood. Kafka on the Shore grabs hold of you and sucks you into the narrative from the very beginning. As a magical realism work, this strange and whimsical of alternate universes and timelines is an enjoyable, yet uneven, ride. At times, the story is thoroughly brilliant and fills you with wonders. But the meandering and erratic plotlines sometimes become redundant and boring, and the pace is brought to a standstill.

The characterization was by far my favorite aspect of this book. Taking center stage, both Kafka Tamura and Satoru Nakata are the driving force behind the two linked storylines. Running away from a terrible oedipal prophecy, Kafka occasionally interacts with an alter ego known as Crow. Most men will recognize themselves in the boy and what he's going through and will relate to Kafka's quest. But although Kafka lies at the heart of the novel, it's his interaction with Oshima, Sakura, and Miss Saeki that makes his storyline so special. For his part, Nakata may be a lovable simpleton who can speak with cats. But his plotline doesn't truly take off until he teams up with Hoshino. Hence, though Kafka and Nakata are the principal focus of this work, it's the supporting cast which is responsible for most of the poignant and emotional moments found throughout its pages. There are a number of powerful sequences, chief among those a rape scene that many might find off-putting.

The rhythm is crooked from beginning to end. At times, the pace is fluid and Kafka on the Shore is a veritable page-turner. And yet, in some portion of the book the rhythm slows to a crawl and the plot goes absolutely nowhere, making me want to open my veins.

There is resolution of a sort at the end of the book, but one doesn't truly understand everything that took place. Which prevented me from fully enjoying the novel. Too bad, as this could have been a brilliant reading experience. It is good, mind you, but it could have been great.