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Kafka on the Shore
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Kafka on the Shore
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Kafka on the Shore
Audiobook19 hours

Kafka on the Shore

Written by Haruki Murakami

Narrated by Sean Barrett and Oliver Le Sueur

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

With Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami gives us a novel every bit as ambitious and expansive as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which has been acclaimed both here and around the world for its uncommon ambition and achievement, and whose still-growing popularity suggests that it will be read and admired for decades to come.

This magnificent new novel has a similarly extraordinary scope and the same capacity to amaze, entertain, and bewitch the reader. A tour de force of metaphysical reality, it is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting prostitute, a forest harbors soldiers apparently unaged since World War II, and rainstorms of fish (and worse) fall from the sky. There is a brutal murder, with the identity of both victim and perpetrator a riddle-yet this, along with everything else, is eventually answered, just as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually revealed, with one escaping his fate entirely and the other given a fresh start on his own.

Extravagant in its accomplishment, Kafka on the Shore displays one of the world's truly great storytellers at the height of his powers.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateAug 6, 2013
ISBN9780804166553
Unavailable
Kafka on the Shore

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Reviews for Kafka on the Shore

Rating: 4.072802835948699 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A tantalizing, reimagining of life amidst the prowess of Murakami. I thought this was extremely well written and performed well. At points, not all the links folded together (or so I thought) but, overall, it was a worthy contender for the basis of contemporary fiction. Kafka is an entrancing youth in the book that deals with so much and Nakata is a fully fledged character in his own right. There is much to like, learn, and live through here.4.25 stars- well deserved!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Haruki Murakami is an international best-selling author and one of the most recognizable Japanese novelists currently writing worldwide. Therefore, I find it somewhat surprising that I actually haven't read much of his work. Before picking up Kafka on the Shore I had only read two of his books--1Q84 and Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche--in addition to a small selection of essays and interviews. 1Q84 was my introduction to Murakami; it was both an incredibly frustrating and invigorating experience. I loved parts of the novel but strongly disliked others. 1Q84 probably wasn't the best place to start reading Murakami, and so I've been meaning to give another one of his novels a try. I settled on Kafka on the Shore, originally published in Japan in 2002, for several reasons. It's one of Murakami's best-known works. Philip Gabriel's 2005 English translation won the World Fantasy Award. The novel's young protagonist basically runs away to a library. But mostly, I wanted to read Kafka on the Shore for the sake of one character, Oshima, with whom I happen to share quite a bit in common.Fifteen-year-old Kafka Tamura, though that's not his real name, has just run away from home. He leaves behind his father in Tokyo just as his mother and sister left the two of them behind more than a decade ago. Kafka's plan is simple--travel to a faraway town and make a place for himself in a library. That's how he finds himself in Takamatsu, over four hundred miles away from the home, father, and life that he wants to escape. There he seeks out the privately owned Komura Memorial Library where meets Oshima, an assistant at the library who takes Kafka under his wing. Meanwhile, strange events are unfolding around Kafka and the people in his life. Back in Tokyo, a man by the name of Nakata with the ability to talk to cats finds himself pulled into Kafka's story. Though the two have never met they share a strange connection with each other that neither of them are entirely aware of or expected.The chapters in Kafka on the Shore alternate between Kafka and Nakata's individual journeys. Kafka's chapters are written in first-person present, giving them a very intimate and immediate perspective, while Nakata's are written in third-person past, creating more distance. At first the two stories seem to be completely unrelated, but as Kafka on the Shore develops the tales steadily draw towards one another and connect in shocking ways. Kafka and Nakata's paths never directly cross but they do influence each other and those of the people around them. Ideas, concepts, and turns of phrase, not to mention actions and their consequences, echo throughout the novel, tying seemingly disparate events together into a cohesive whole. There is a lot of loneliness in Kafka on the Shore. The characters are searching and reaching out for these sorts of connections and relationships, both consciously and subconsciously. They are individuals yearning to find what is missing from themselves and from their lives, often disregarding time and reality in the process.Much as with 1Q84, there were parts of Kafka on the Shore that I adored and other parts that I found immensely frustrating. In general, I preferred the earlier novel over its later developments. For me, Kafka on the Shore worked best when it was more firmly grounded in reality with hints of the unexplainable, mysterious, and strange rather than the other way around. As the novel progresses it becomes more confusing and dreamlike. That in and of itself isn't problematic, but towards the end of Kafka on the Shore Murakami begins introducing bizarre elements seemingly out of nowhere that do very little to develop the plot or the characters. Readers looking for closure from Kafka on the Shore may be disappointed as there are plenty of threads left unresolved by the time the novel reaches its conclusion. Despite my frustrations with Kafka on the Shore I am glad that I read the novel. I appreciated the importance giving to books and the influence of music; I found the characters intriguing; and although the story goes a little off the rails, I liked Kafka's peculiar journey of discovery and coming of age.Experiments in Manga
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Kafka on the Shore is a very strange book. It was loaned to me (thrust my way, that is) by a friend singing its praises and saying it was just like an anime.The backcover reads: Kafka on the Shore tells the adventures (and misadventures) of two strange characters, whose lives, running side by side throughout the novel, will eventually prove to be full of enigmas and mystery. These are Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home at age 15, pursued by the shadow of a dark prophecy that one day was launched by his father, and Nakata, an elderly man who has never recovers from a freak accident he suffered as a young man and who has devoted much of his life to a cause - seeking missing cats.This oversimplifies a lot. It is true that these two characters lives run parallel to each other, almost meeting in the end. But Kafka's journey is not simply that of a runaway kid, he is running away from an Oedipal prophecy, made by his own father (who has quite a few screws loose). He will take refuge in Komura Library, where he meets Oshima with whom he has philosophical and metaphysical conversations about life, literature and music (in fact, these made me want to read more Japanese literature - I've added Akinari Ueda's Tales of Moonlight and Rain to my wishlist, and started Kawabata's Snow Country). Kafka's tale is mostly of coming of age, and becoming strong to be able to survive the world.Nakata's story, together with the reports of the incident that left him unable to read and write, or learn anything, but with the strange gift of talking to cats, is amusing at first, but growing more deep and poignant as the chapters advance. Nakata is responsible for most of the surreal things happening in the book, although it is not really his fault if it rains fishes, or leeches. I really liked Nakata, and his relationship with all the characters that he meets. He is really a nice old man, who isn't very bright, but is quite happy that way. But what starts with a quest to find a missing kitty, ends up being the journey of his life, setting right what was wrong.And between these two characters there is Miss Saeki, a connecting point between the stories, a woman for whom time has stopped, in the sense that she stopped living, only being able to exist after the death of her fiancé. She will be important to Kafka, helping him become the “world's toughest 15-year old”, and the ending point of Nakata's quest.When I finished the book, I wasn't sure I had liked it. I wasn't sure I disliked it either. It's the kind of read that needs digesting, that you can only know how much it touched you when, 6 months later, you still recall the story and the feelings associated with it.What is great about Kafka on the Shore is that I was there with the characters, in the same places they where, having the same adventures as them. It is not that I loved the book, it wasn't that great, I just didn't want to leave that world. I would love to keep going to Komura Library with Kafka, having lunch and conversations with Oshima, or walk on the forest, with trees looming over me, or even keep going west with Nakata and Hoshino, and talking with cats.Also at Spoilers and Nuts
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book had the perfect balance - plot, pace, surrealism, realism.

    Sometimes when reading a book split with different protagonists, I find myself favouring one and wishing to hurry through the other's parts to get back to the protagonist I'm most interested in, but for the most part it was not the case with this one.

    The dialogue was a bit hard to follow for me due to the abstract ways in which the characters conversed, but still a great book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a beautifully written story. It clearly takes the story of Oedipus as the root of the plot. However, having never read the original, I can't say how closely it follows it.

    The majority of the story is told through the internal dialog of the characters. So little of the substance of this internal dialog actually translates into interactions between the characters, but they react as if they are aware of all that hasn't been said. Its as if they all are acting from the same script, but have agreed to only say 10 percent of the lines out loud.

    The writing is lyrical and engaging. I never felt like I had to push through any part of the story.

    I think this is one of those books that you need to read two or three times before you can fully appreciate it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    "Kafka on the Shore" does not achieve the same ultra-high voltage effects of "Hard-Boiled Wonderland," but this is a wonderful trip. This is a combination coming-of-age, sci-fi saga, that twists a family up and dumps them in a time warp. There are numerous cultural references, beyond cataloguing here, but this is a very well-read 15 yer-old who changes his hame to Kafka, after the famed Czech author. There are oedipal overtones, but nevertheless, this is a srtong theme of giving yourself up to love. In 435 pages, the pace doesn't necessarily flag, but I'm still puzzling over some of the everyday minutiae described at such length.I recommend this book for its strong fantastical element - it's Murakami after all, and because it's so captivating and out there - it's Murakami, after all.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Two stories of runaway's intertwine but never quite meet in this dreamy novel. One is 15, running away from a sad childhood and the other in his 60s, running with an agenda, mysterious even to him. It suffers from some creepy bits and translation awkwardness, but I'm glad I finally gave Murakami a try.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Some pretty good writing, but the plot leaves something to be desired.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Jonathan Ross's eel-heart eating on the F-Word brought back memories of Princess Simba...
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I want to like Murakami. My writing and reading friends keep on telling me how good he is. First they recommend this title, then that. I try them out, making a genuine effort to see what all of the fuss is about. I respect my friends' opinions. 'Norwegian Wood' is the best of them that I've read so far - a charmingly elegiac book. This, on the other hand...

    I read the whole book and it felt very long indeed. There were parts of it that I enjoyed. The fantasy sequence in the 'other world' drew me in and the rainstorm of fish was a nice touch. Overall, though, I found it pretentious and rather silly. A book that is so heavy on dialogue needs to make its characters speak more convincingly. Maybe it's the translation (he said, being charitable). There were sections that began with a character saying something along the lines of, 'Tchaikovsky was a genius, right?', followed by a five-page high school essay on the subject. These sections were patronising and poorly executed. And the main character felt like a weaker rehash of the guy from 'Norwegian Wood'. He was the straight man to a host of pantomime characters, all of whom, to me, were entirely unbelievable. Any book that references Kafka has to be better than this. I must be missing something, I think.

    I'm told that I should read 'The Wind-up Bird Chronicle'. On this evidence, I'm not sure that I can bring myself to do so.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My favorite.?
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is an amazing work of magical realism. Peppered with profound passages, deftly weaving humor, irony, and musings on the universalities of the human experience, it is the story of two people, 15-year-old Kafka Tamura and the elderly and illiterate Nakata, whose paths are inextricably drawn toward one another.... Talking cats, raining fish, Johnnie Walker and Colonel Sanders --- literary devices that *sound* just downright silly --- are used by the brilliant Murakami to move the story along and provoke the reader to suspend disbelief and *recognize* the role that metaphor, dreams, and fantasy play in any work of literature (not to mention philosophical musings about the meaning of time, memory, and life in general). Murakami's novel comments upon itself as it tells its story. Kafka and Nakata are both lovable characters and they are surrounded by intriguing lovable characters, but none of that is the point. What is the point? It would be hard for any one reader to say.... It's one of the most satisfyingly complex novels I have ever read and I'm keeping my copy for a future reread.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Not for me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is my first experience with Murakami, after meaning to get around to sampling his work for ages, and... Well, I don't quite know what to make of it. I don't even know how to describe it. It's about a teenage runaway and an old man who can talk to cats and a library and a weird incident in the Japanese countryside during WWII and... And, no, that doesn't do it at all. None of that remotely conveys just how odd this book is. But to say that it's surreal, even though it is, doesn't seem to cover it, either. It's just... odd. Bizarre things happen that are never fully explained, even though explanations are hinted at. (Well, sometimes. A little. Maybe.) There's some weird, potentially very disturbing stuff with sex and animal cruelty. A lot of it is very metaphorical, often even pointing out the fact that it's metaphorical. Everything in it is very clearly connected, but it's not always clear exactly why or how. And there are lots of digressions to talk about literature or music or philosophy, any one of which may be relevant or may just be the author indulging his interests, it's hard to tell.All of which makes it sound like a muddled mess, but the truth is, it's very readable. Surprisingly readable. But also a little frustrating, as it's not a short book, and after a while you start to get the distinct feeling that it's not actually going to tie everything together at the end in way that makes coherent sense. Which it doesn't. But that's less unsatisfying than I expected, because it does make a sort of dreamlike sense. Maybe. I honestly don't know. What I do know is that, however mixed my feelings about it, it was certainly interesting. And that I will definitely give Murakami another shot in the future, if only so I can continue trying to figure out what I think about him.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Brilliant.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the second Murakami novel I read and I absolutely adore it. It's both a sensitively-written coming-of-age story and a fabulous journey into a surreal world rich with cultural allusions. I wish I knew more about Japanese customs because I am sure there was so much that I was missing! As ever, Murakami's characters are bewitching and the plot is a fascinating hybrid of "Alice in Wonderland" and the Oedipus myth. Prophecies, dreams, talking cats and another world beyond a wood... Mind-bogglingly brilliant.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is a kind of "quest" novel, with two different main characters on separate quests which may or may not ultimately converge. Kafka is a teenage boy who feels unloved by his remote, cold father, a sculptor. He runs away from home, possibly in search of his mother, who abandoned him when he was a young boy, and a possible sister. Along the way, Kafka is befriended by the ambiguous Oshima.The other main character is Nakata, an elderly man who as a result of a mysterious incident in World War II is simple-minded. He can converse with cats, however, and can cause fish and leeches to fall from the sky like rain. During a search for a missing cat, Nakata comes across one of the most memorable characters in my recent reading (and not necessarily in a good way) who looks like Johnny Walker. Murikami describes one of the most graphic, cruel and horrible scenes I've ever read. This event causes Nakata to take off on his quest, although it's not very clear what he is seeking. Along the way, Nakata is befriended by Hoshino. The novel alternates between Kafka and Nakata as they progress, and their paths begin to converge.I found the book reminiscent of A Windup Bird Chronicle, which I read years ago, in that magical and seemingly impossible things happen that seem perfectly ordinary and logical to the characters experiencing them. I was puzzled by the book, and while books which blur the boundaries between the real and the surreal often annoy me, in this case I accepted this dreaminess and illogic. Perhaps this is because of the skill of Murakami's writing, which made this book a real page-turner. The book brought me into a different world, and although for me in the end the mystery was not resolved, I still felt while reading the book that everything made sense. I can't say Murakami is a favorite author. I've now read two of his books, and have a couple of his other books on my Kindle that I expect to read one day. I just have to be in the mood to experience the surreal before I immerse myself in another of his books.Murakami says of the book, "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."3 stars
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Giving this book a three-star rating seems unjust. When reading it, I found much I liked about the work, yet having had a few days to digest it, find myself struggling to justify just exactly what I found so appealing.

    To deal first of all with the good, Kafka on the Shore is on a basic level a decent page-turner. Two related stories are interwoven, chapter for chapter, and while they don't necessarily come together in the end, the narrative is nicely paced and suitably eventful to keep the reader engaged. There are various themes on display, from the Oedipal tragedy and the journey to adulthood, together with more complex issues dealing with time and reality, and plenty of the metaphorical and surreal elements to spice things up. If you aren't enamoured by 'magic realism' this will no doubt be an instant turn-off.

    As for the prose, which some other reviewers have complained about as stilted or to be blamed on the translation, I found the book to be for the most part very pleasantly written. It must be said that the translation is American, which for a British reader did jar on occasion. There were also moments when the dialogue came across as particularly unrealistic and forced, but this probably has more to do with Murakami squeezing in a lot of metaphysical/philosophical discussion. This is a novel in which 15-year-olds can discuss interpretations of Schubert, and pick up books on Napoleon's Russian campaign on a whim. It won't appeal to everyone, but the discussions and ideas floating around in the book make for interesting intervals in the action.

    Unfortunately, having finished the novel I found my admiration began to wane. As others have pointed out, there is no 'satisfactory' conclusion, which on its own is no problem, rather that none of the various threads of the novel have any answers. Thinking back, I find that what I read as interesting and titillating discussions or metaphorical events simply turned into question marks hanging over the book's closed cover. The author himself suggests readers should use the book's riddles to find their own solutions, and that multiple readings are recommended, but for that I have neither the time nor the inclination.

    To my mind, Kafka on the Shore is a perfectly interesting diversion, and one which works on some levels as an engaging story. But where it tries to become more deeply meaningful, it offers only disconnected ideas that the reader has to piece together if he is to see any of the picture. This was my first Murakami, and whilst the book hasn't made me a fan, it also hasn't put me off picking up another of his novels should the opportunity arise. But for the sour aftertaste, it even deserves an extra star, or the sheer joyful way in which he has written a modern day fairy tale cum parable.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Haruki Murakami is an internationally star in the literature world, so I decided to read this book. Kafka on the Shore is one that I see mentioned frequently as the book to read - so that is what I picked to read.First - this a retelling of the Oedipus, where the lead character will kill his father and sleep with his mother, but told in an entirely new way which I am still mulling over. Between the confused leading character of Kafka Tamura, who plans for years running away from home and does at age 15 (with an imaginary, maybe, friend). The secondary story of slow Nakata, who fell in a mysterious coma as a child during WWII and woke up with amnesia and can now talk to cats, and his friend/keeper Hoshino a truck driver who is curious about Nakata's mission to close a mystical door. These two stories interweave with each other, not quite coming together, but always parallel, tell of a strange happening that isn't quite real. The book is well done, the translation is good -but it seems a lot deeper than it actually is. Take away all the weirdness, and all you have is a confused kid with a distant father. Nakata's story is much more interesting but it doesn't quite come together at the end. Its a pretty book, but that is all it seems to be.I did enjoy reading it, so I'll give the author another shot, and put this book back on the reread pile.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Finished it! So many people have read this; there are so many reviews and I just can't do it justice. Definitely one of my top reads of the year. Loved, loved, loved this book! Read it. 5.0
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Hands down one of the best books I've read this year. I can't wait to pick up every other thing that Murakami has written!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Philosophical, weird, totally absorbing, coherent, awesome...Kafka, a 15 year old runaway in Japan, is trying to find his mother and sister while escaping the curse of his father. From the beginning, he works toward building his strength and understanding –qualities he will need as he slips between the real world and dreams, in and out of time, and is led by forces beyond his control.Counterbalancing Kafka is a much older Nakata who even with his very strange handicap possesses wisdom and perfect timing. The two characters are entwined in parallel journeys – each working to resolve different aspects of the same mystery.Well written, easy to read, and puzzling by nature, this book grabbed me from the beginning and wouldn’t let me go. Characters go beyond three dimensions. Every event impacts another. Filled with magical realism, this story explores with sensitivity issues like time, loss, memories, abandonment, friendships, death, and intimacy. You will find talking cats, ghostly libraries, and classical music. Fun quote: ”A long while later, after the files were completely burned, Hoshino stomped the ashes into dust… ‘Nobody’s gonna read it now,’ Hoshino said. ‘I don’t know what was written in it, but it’s all gone. A bit of shape and form has disappeared from the world, increasing the amount of nothingness.’‘Mr Hoshino?’‘What’s up?’‘I have a question I’d like to ask.’‘Fire away.’‘Can nothingness increase?’Hoshino puzzled this one over for awhile. ‘That’s a tough one,’ he admitted. ‘If something returns to nothing it becomes zero, but even if you add zero to zero, it’s still zero.’‘I don’t understand.’‘I don’t get it either. Thinking about those kinds of things always gives me a headache.’”
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is such an amazing book. Absolutely beautiful story, so well-written and fast-paced I could hardly bare to put it down. I loved every moment of it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This isn't an easy book by any stretch of the imagination and that does, by definition, make it hard to review. It's not something you can read, not think about and hope to take anything from. It's not a straight forward book where the linkes are clearly drawn, and it's not one you can expect to fully understand at the end. Kafka Tamura is a 15 year old runaway. It's hard to describle the plot beyond that. There's a murder, a man who talks to cats, and things that seem real but might not be and seem like they can't be real but are. There is a narative here, a story, but none of it's plain or spelt out, and what I think happened probably differs significantly from what other people saw. It gives the impression of a book that will give up a new insight or idea every time you read it, a new perspective you haven't considered before. That said, it is heavy going. The middle part's slow and it can be a bit of a grind to get through. There are some disturbing scenes and not a lot happens in real terms, most of the action is thought and conversation and meaning within meaning. Though I enjoyed it and it made me think, at the same time it did drag in places and I had to force myself to read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Five stars and then some. Sometimes, you'll read a book and wonder how the author managed to be so brilliant. This is one of those books that raises that question.In (very) brief, the book depicts two parallel storylines: that of a teenager who has run away from home and that of agiing man who, though he seems simple, posseses some remarkable abilities. The range of supporting characters is wide, and they are all well-drawn (with the possible exemption of the young Sakura, who is not so much enigmatic as she is simply a bit thin); Murakami has tremendous skills in character development: each character is well-rounded, well-developed, and speaks in a unique voice. All of the main characters also tend to wrap up their own trajectories, which is a feat (tying up all the loose ends, which is especially a formidable task in a novel as long and involved as this one) that many novelists never seem to grasp.The plot itself is, as mentioned above, far more complicated than can be outlined in a review. What a potential reader needs to know is that the plot never becomes entangled and that the reader never becomes lost. There are plenty of points of metaphysical speculation, and the plot is all the richer for them; they are part of the novel's lifeblood. This is not navel-gazing; Murakami weaves them into his plot in order to make us reflect not only on the magic realism world of his characters but also on our own being-in-the-world. Reading this novel is NOT a passive activity but is instead one of active engagement.Above all, reading this novel is enjoyable. Murakami has given us a page-turning plotline, one that keeps us asking what on earth could be coming next. He has given us likeable main characters, ones we want to follow into the next chapters. He has given us a world where the impossible is possible, and we want to extend our stay there. He does this all in an engaging, frequently shifting, narrative voice that keeps the novel cohesive and steers us onward. Translator Philip Gabriel also deserves mention for his lively translation into English. Puns, jokes, idiomatic expressions, and slang all come through loud and clear in English. They style of the novel comes through in a natural voice, one that is never contrived or bland.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The book was great and the narrator made it even better.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It has Murakami’s usual dream-fantasy-like weirdness, such as talking cats, dream communications, and portals to other dimensions. But this book has a lot more substance and depth that most of his other books, where I keep reading hoping something interesting or significant will happen, but it doesn’t really.
    In Kafka on the Shore, I was interested and drawn in the entire time. Good narrations too!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This novel is something where dreams, fantasies and reality all merge into one very well written book; or should I say those worlds awaiting us and yet to be experienced!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Murakami weaves past and present through an as-always interesting cast of characters and other-worldly encounters. Memory, loss, desire, fate, music (oh, music!) and other classic Murakami elements are all here, in a story that grabs you immediately and doesn’t let go.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Where do I start. I'm going to have to revisit this comment a couple times. I think this is a masterpiece and one of the most fascinating books I've read. I had decided some months ago that I wasn't going to re-read anything I've read until after the end of this year. There's too much I'm in a hurry to start for the first time. I just changed my mind. I'm going to re-read this right after Jane in June. It was upsetting that the rest of life kept interrupting and I know I missed things about how the different elements related to each other because of the gaps in time when I couldn't read. Next time I'm setting the rest of life aside for a couple days and dedicating them to just this book. Even this first time I set it aside a couple times during the week until I had an adequate amount of time and a comfortable setting. Fascinating. In my very humble opinion, a great writer. So this is what magical realism is, huh?