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easytocrash's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
caladium's review against another edition
3.0
Qué pienso del libro... Me gustó, pero no tanto como pensé que me iba a gustar. Mi primera experiencia con Murakami hace ya varios años fue excelente con Tokyo Blues, por lo que había quedado con ganas de leer más. Poco después leí After Dark, un libro totalmente distinto y mucho más corto por lo que no alcanza a decepcionar. Y ahora este, que lo había comprado hace ya 3 años, y quizás ese era un mejor momento para leerlo. El libro es largo, y como muchas reseñas dicen la primera mitad es más interesante que la segunda. Los personajes que constrye son interesantes, la historia, tanto el ritmo como el contenido, también. No obstante, sentía que le faltaba peso, como si las cosas pasaban porque tenían que pasar y no por las acciones de los personas. Quizás ahí estaba Kafka, pero muy diluido. La segunda mitad del libro se comienza a agotar, uno ya se hace la idea de qué es lo que va a pasar, y los momentos Wow! son pocos, le hubiera acortado varias páginas. Finalmente, en el último cuarto, la tensión se diluye, todo da un poco lo mismo, se vuelve más fantasioso de lo que me hubiera gustado y deja, tras una buena cantidad de páginas, algunos cabos interesantes sin resolver.
Sí, lo recomendaría, como lectura de verano ligera en la playa y a personas que ya conozcan al autor.
Sí, lo recomendaría, como lectura de verano ligera en la playa y a personas que ya conozcan al autor.
libliz's review against another edition
5.0
I think the NYT's article written about the book back in 2005 said it best, " In each, a self lies in pieces and must be put back together; a life that is stalled must be kick-started and relaunched into the bruising but necessary process of change. Reconciling us to that necessity is something stories have done for humanity since time immemorial. Dreams do it, too. But while anyone can tell a story that resembles a dream, it's the rare artist, like this one, who can make us feel that we are dreaming it ourselves."
bluereen's review against another edition
4.0
"I can feel the limits of what humans are capable of—that a certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect. And personally, I find that encouraging." -Oshima
The story is unlike anything I've ever read before. If books can take us to new places, then Murakami most definitely takes us to outer space. (lol)
Everything's so bizarre, but the worldbuilding was crafted so well that it made enough sense. Bonus: lots of great quotes too!
The story is unlike anything I've ever read before. If books can take us to new places, then Murakami most definitely takes us to outer space. (lol)
Everything's so bizarre, but the worldbuilding was crafted so well that it made enough sense. Bonus: lots of great quotes too!
runjnee's review against another edition
2.0
Kafka on the Shore mystifies me. There's no other way to say it.
There are essentially two stories in this book, possibly linked by a murder. One is the story of Kafka Tamura, a 15-yr old boy who runs away from his father (his mother took his sister and abandoned them when he was 4) to Takamatsu, where he begins haunting a library and ends up getting a small job there. He also makes friends with the erudite hermaphrodite, Oshima. His father has him convinced that he will fulfil an Oedipal prophecy - this may or may not be the factor that causes him to have real and metaphorical sex (yes, you read that right) with women that could possibly be his mother and sister.
The other story is that of Mr. Nakata, a simple minded man who was left a tabula rasa by a mysterious incident when he was in school, who can now talk to cats and magically fix bad backs and make beautiful, ornate furniture. In searching for a lost cat, he comes across Johnnie Walker who kills cats and eats their hearts. In rage, he kills him, makes it rain fishes and leeches, and begins travelling because he is receiving directions from... I don't know. He makes friends with a truck driver who follows Colonel Sanders to the entrance stone, which he helps Nakata open.
Kafka passes through the entrance into another dimension, meeting thought-to-be-dead soldiers and the young spirit of Ms. Saeki, the woman he thinks is his mother. For apparently no reason, he stays there awhile and then comes back to the 'real world', before the entrance is closed. He decides to go back to his old life and finish his studies.
Mr. Nakata dies after meeting Ms. Saeki, who also dies, and it is up to the truck driver to close the entrance stone. He is confronted by a weird mucus creature which a cat tells him he must kill to prevent it crossing to the entrance. He hacks it, closes the entrance stone and leaves, having through his journey gained an appreciation of Beethoven and a sense of purpose.
I think that about covers the story and the various aspects of it that raise questions but leave no answers. In my opinion (and I could very well be wrong here), Murakami has created these metaphors for the sake of creating mystery. Everytime you think an answer will satisfy some question and follow it through to the logical conclusion, some contradiction arises and you have to start at the beginning again. This is nice because you start coming up with really plausible theories, but no real 'ending' is given in the book that resolves all these mysteries, which leaves you a bit disappointed.
Reading this book is a good introduction to Greek thinking, classical music and literature (some of the Japanese variety, too). Many times, these interjections seem forced. It reads like a hodge-podge of Oliver Twist, Catcher In The Rye, Oedipus Rex and any novel by Stephen King. There is a lot of symbolism everywhere, to the extent that I feel the plot was sacrificed to insert more symbolism.
I was genuinely hooked by the mystery of the book, unlike any book I've read in awhile. Unfortunately, the ending didn't provide enough resolution to satisfy me. I know many fans of Murakami say that he is under no obligation to resolve the plot for me, but I just like my books that way. I don't need him to spell everything out for me, but just an indication that certain things were resolved, or at least an answer to ONE of the mysteries so I know what angle I should be thinking with, would have been appreciated.
I am left with a strange sense of bereftness, intellectual inadequacy and ignorance. Not what I set out to accomplish by picking up this book.
There are essentially two stories in this book, possibly linked by a murder. One is the story of Kafka Tamura, a 15-yr old boy who runs away from his father (his mother took his sister and abandoned them when he was 4) to Takamatsu, where he begins haunting a library and ends up getting a small job there. He also makes friends with the erudite hermaphrodite, Oshima. His father has him convinced that he will fulfil an Oedipal prophecy - this may or may not be the factor that causes him to have real and metaphorical sex (yes, you read that right) with women that could possibly be his mother and sister.
The other story is that of Mr. Nakata, a simple minded man who was left a tabula rasa by a mysterious incident when he was in school, who can now talk to cats and magically fix bad backs and make beautiful, ornate furniture. In searching for a lost cat, he comes across Johnnie Walker who kills cats and eats their hearts. In rage, he kills him, makes it rain fishes and leeches, and begins travelling because he is receiving directions from... I don't know. He makes friends with a truck driver who follows Colonel Sanders to the entrance stone, which he helps Nakata open.
Kafka passes through the entrance into another dimension, meeting thought-to-be-dead soldiers and the young spirit of Ms. Saeki, the woman he thinks is his mother. For apparently no reason, he stays there awhile and then comes back to the 'real world', before the entrance is closed. He decides to go back to his old life and finish his studies.
Mr. Nakata dies after meeting Ms. Saeki, who also dies, and it is up to the truck driver to close the entrance stone. He is confronted by a weird mucus creature which a cat tells him he must kill to prevent it crossing to the entrance. He hacks it, closes the entrance stone and leaves, having through his journey gained an appreciation of Beethoven and a sense of purpose.
I think that about covers the story and the various aspects of it that raise questions but leave no answers. In my opinion (and I could very well be wrong here), Murakami has created these metaphors for the sake of creating mystery. Everytime you think an answer will satisfy some question and follow it through to the logical conclusion, some contradiction arises and you have to start at the beginning again. This is nice because you start coming up with really plausible theories, but no real 'ending' is given in the book that resolves all these mysteries, which leaves you a bit disappointed.
Reading this book is a good introduction to Greek thinking, classical music and literature (some of the Japanese variety, too). Many times, these interjections seem forced. It reads like a hodge-podge of Oliver Twist, Catcher In The Rye, Oedipus Rex and any novel by Stephen King. There is a lot of symbolism everywhere, to the extent that I feel the plot was sacrificed to insert more symbolism.
I was genuinely hooked by the mystery of the book, unlike any book I've read in awhile. Unfortunately, the ending didn't provide enough resolution to satisfy me. I know many fans of Murakami say that he is under no obligation to resolve the plot for me, but I just like my books that way. I don't need him to spell everything out for me, but just an indication that certain things were resolved, or at least an answer to ONE of the mysteries so I know what angle I should be thinking with, would have been appreciated.
I am left with a strange sense of bereftness, intellectual inadequacy and ignorance. Not what I set out to accomplish by picking up this book.
alisarae's review against another edition
4.0
The metaphysical musings of the characters were certainly well thought out, but I didn't enjoy its constant presence. I did like the themes of acceptance and forgiveness, even though they were sometimes manifested in strange ways (like sex).
beac3's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
2.0
nyky's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Lot of subtext about life in general in this novel. This would have been 5 stars except for 2 things: 1) lackluster ending, which I find is common to the coupler books of Murakami I've read. Everything is great until the ending and then it doesn't wrap up cleanly, thought that may be the point. 2) Weird sex stuff like ghost sex and rape. I don't know what the point of these weird and disturbing scenes are in Murakami's work but I think the book would be way better without.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault