Reviews with content warning for Gore - Ο Κάφκα στην ακτή

What a book! I had this copy of Kafka on the Shore for almost two years before I tackled it this month and once I started, I couldn't put it down. This is such a creative and intriguing exploration of memory and destiny, the connections that we might and how we come to be the people that we are. How we craft ourselves and are made new every day, while still being informed by all that comes before us. The way that time is used it so trippy and interesting. Time moves past us and through us. We can't get time back and we can waste our whole lives chasing it. And even with these really big ideas, at its core this is a story about a young boy trying to understand himself. The simplicity of that is what keeps the story so tight and I can see why people continue to come back to it. Some parts are tricky...definitely check content warnings and I think that some parts could have been scaled back for sure which stops me from going like up to a 5 star rating for this book. But sometimes the stars are a general guide and I would still recommend this book for sure. Hoshino is my favorite character!

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malia7's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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hannah_cogo's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Murakami keeps his unique and brilliant writing style in this book, with a totally unique plot that keeps you guessing. but his portrayal of women has not changed, and it is clear that he really only sees women as nothing more than sexual objects. a part of me feels like most of this book was just Murakami exploring his own messed-up fantasies, as there is not a single woman in this book who is not objectified, talked about or described sexually, or has nothing to do with sex at all. overall it is overly sexual and proves that Murakami still cannot write women. at all. the only reason it's not zero stars is for Mr Nakata and his talking cats.

there are scenes where the main character rapes his sister in their dream, and he also has sex with his mother more than once. also, the main character's genitals are talked about a lot considering he is 15</spoler> it's a lot to take in.

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spicycheesecake's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Beautifully written, but that one chapter with the (TW: ANIMAL ABUSE) cat murders disgusted me and threw me so far off that I stopped reading for weeks.

If I ever pick this up again, I'm skipping that chapter.

Update:
1 year later, I've finally picked back up this book and finished. I am so glad I did

What the fuck did I just read though?

Weird shit. Weird shit. Weird shit. Weird shit but it all worked out so well in the end. What the sigma fr

My first Murakami book!! I'm not going to lie, when I got to that chapter about all the cats and the Things happening to them, I thought it was over. I thought I had picked up my first Murakami, saw the terrible things he wrote about, and thought that it was the end of me and Murakami. I will not forgive him for that disgusting, god-forsaken chapter. I'm glad that I re-picked up the book though. The storyline and all the characters were so epic. I love Nakata. I love Hoshino. I love Mr. KFC guy.

There are a lot of things that I just don't understand. But I feel that there is beauty in not understanding some of the story. Though I think that some of my knowledge was lost in my 1-year gap of putting this book down.

What is the role of the boy named Crow? He seemed to be a minor character. As much as I love Nakata, why was it *him* of all people to be the one to go on this journey to find the entrance stone? What was the relation of the beginning storyline of the teacher and all her unconscious students? Why did Nakata think that Kafka's dad was named Johnnie Walker? Why was there sex in the story?? Why was there so much cat gore in that one chapter??

Some of it seems unecessary.

Anyway yeah. I kinda don't want to think about this book anymore. But it was so weirdly good. I want to read more Murakami though, if anyone has any recommendations!!!

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jo_lzr's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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sleepyredwolf's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A bizarre but beautifully-written book. Trying to understand or explain it will make it a very frustrating experience - instead try to accept things as they happen and let yourself get taken for the ride.

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