Kafka On The Shore, Haruki Murakami (8/10)
A profoundly spiritual exploration of life, who we love, and the choices we make in life. There's various elements of philosophy and it's deep and evokes a strange sense of the soul and of loneliness and curiosity
Rating: 8/10
Read More on Goodreads
⛰ What It's About
It's about two remarkable characters - Kafka Tamura and Nakata.
Kafka is a teenage boy who's just escaped from home to search from his mother and sister, and because he hates his father. He was told by his father that he would eventually kill him, and fuck his sister and mum... so he wants to escape this oedipal prophecy.
Nakata is an old man who's got special powers to speak with cats and lots of other things like making it rain sardines... he never recovered from a wartime affliction and is now drawn toward Kafka for a reason he can't fathom.
As their paths converge, crazy shit happens like talking cats, murders, fish falling from the sky, and it's all a bit random and confusing.
🔍 How I Discovered It
Kiran and Zain recommended it and it's a second one of Haruki Murakami's book's that I've read, after the first (Norwegian Wood) which I really liked.
🧠 Thoughts
Overall I did like the book. It's really deep and evokes this strange sense of the soul and of loneliness and curiosity that Murakami does so well. There's a lot of layers in the book - sexual, philosophical, romantic, fantasy, etc. and it all happens in quick succession which keeps you intellectually stimulated and curious. The characters are all very open-ended and deep which is great and I liked.
At times it didn't feel like there was any progression in the story and the plot and it wasn't captivating enough which made things get a little boring and monotone.
I think the story's about needing to let go and step out of your own reality to find out that life is meant to be lived. Kafka escapes - but eventually returns back to reality... If you're too tied to reality, it will all pass you and you'll never find out wtf is going on. So it's important to have self-awareness and live on the fringe of society to look inwards.
The book is a profoundly spiritual exploration of life, who we love, and the choices we make in life. There's various elements of philosophies in there.
🥰 Who Would Like It?
Young adults.