Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Kafka On The Shore

Truly mixed feelings about this one. There are many things about this book that I really liked. I liked the prose style, magic realism, the unconventional structure, the cats! But there were also things that were a big turn off, including the main character Kafka who I found incredibly irritating. The book is split into 2 parallel narratives. In one an old man who may or may not be from a parallel universe talks to cats, encounters magical characters, befriends a truck driver and goes on a road trip while strange things fall from the sky. I loved everything about this part of the book. Solid 4⭐️.
The other story is about a precocious (or just obnoxious) 15 y.o. who ran away from home, goes to a library and has preachy conversations with the librarian (yes, I know there is more to it...) This part of the book annoyed me to no end. Every character seems to be pontificating about philosophy is the most unnatural manner all the time. But I had even bigger issues with the unrealistic portrayal of women, uncomfortable sex scenes that revolved around a potential Oedipus situation. I know some ppl can look past those issues and enjoy the other aspects of the book, but they were big turn offs for me which kinda ruined my enjoyment despite appreciating the positive aspects of the craft.

Content Warnings

valjeanval's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-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

5.0

I picked this one up at the library to celebrate Banned Books Month. I've read a bit of Murakami in the past, so I expected some weirdness, and I was right to expect it. This book is an Oedipal myth, and it gets very mythy with talking cats, personality displacement, and portals to pocket dimensions. I couldn't see the exact reason why it was banned, but probably statutory sex scenes with people who may be mother/son but it could also be the fact that it features a trans man who is particularly nuanced and treated like a human being by basically every character. You just never know with book banners.

My husband often asks me if I'm liking whatever I'm reading, and I often found that questions hard to answer with this one. This book is profoundly uncomfortable and occasionally horrific. It's also Murakami, so there's a great deal I probably need four or five re-reads to interpret. Did I like it? Kind of? When I wasn't horrified? It's hard to explain. I had similar feelings after 1Q84. I like reading Murakami, though, because it really makes my literary interpreter brain kick into gear. Even when I don't understand points of the story, I enjoy thinking about them and why they are there. This book made me think about Japanese civilians in WWII, Greek Mythology, classical music, poetry, libraries as memories, memories as libraries, why people help others, capitalism, philosophy, and lots more, so it felt worth my time. That said, definitely check out some trigger warnings before reading this one.

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booksense's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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noeul's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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emma_succubus's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Murakami's books are always a convoluted mess that leave you a bit like you just had a very realistic dream. This book is no different and leaves you a bit lost in the end. I think a very appropriate way to end this story.

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ambivalentneb's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

My favorite book I’ve read thus far, at the start simple but it slowly gets more and more metaphysical until it’s confused and then it all just falls into place.

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distractible'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? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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das_'s review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

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

0.5

A quite interesting mystery full of self-discovery at its core, with quite an unusual narrative that tells this story from multiple angles at once, this book seemed quite promising from the start. However, the overly casual dialogues that oscillate between intentionally inarticulate and pseudo-intellectual quickly got on my nerves, and the subsequent attempts to make light of pedophilia as well as incest were only the last straw. I'm fairly confident that this is the worst book that I've read in the past decade or so.

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