Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Kafka on the Shore

I wish we were all a bit more like Mr Nakata. Kind to others and content with our lives. However improbable it sounds in the context of all the other things that happened in this book, the one thing I learned was that it is okay to wait and enjoy being in the moment. I feel like in the current society we rush everywhere and have a strong sense that we need to be productive all the time so waiting in line, waiting for anything in general, is seen as “waste of time” putting us on edge more than anything. I took my time reading this book and with every Nakata chapter, refreshingly peaceful after Kafka’s turmoil and drama, I saw myself absorbing more and more of his philosophy. Today I stood in line, doing nothing at all, for over an hour, and yet in the place where I would be usually fuming and mumbling curses under my breath, I was completely calm.

Moving from my personal post-read attitude change, I both loved and loathed this novel. In a very similar way to Nabokov’s Lolita, I fell in love with the language, with the way the story was told, how deep into the psyche of the characters the author was getting, while at the same time hating all the extremely dubious sexual content which was getting only more distressing as we went on. It’s important to highlight that I know what to expect from Murakami so this is an opinion after the generous leeway I’ve given the author for his usual “Murakami weird sexual shit”. I know it was all the curse, fatum, drawing on the myth of Oedipus but it sometimes did get a bit too much.

Speaking of the Greek tragedy - another aspect I haven’t expected, and I’ll probably will need to read more critical texts on before I make my judgement, is how deeply rooted the novel is in Western culture. In a full spectrum of it too - we got extensive references to classical texts, French New Wave cinema, German composers but also American pop-culture and lifestyle. Might be a reference to American occupation of Japan post-WW2 but maybe my political sciences brain is reading too much into that. Regardless, it is interesting to read an East Asian author who hybridises West and East to such a great extent. The resulting work is almost uneasy to read through.

Final call - will definitely have to read again because the story is so dense and convoluted that I’m sure a lot of things went straight over my head during the first read. At many instances I wanted to look away, drop reading this novel but every time I was inexplicably immediately pulled back to it. I’m both fascinated and deeply disturbed by it.

PS Thank you Murakami for effortlessly incorporating trans character into the book without fetishising them

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rileyeffective's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.25

it was my first Murakami novel and I quite liked it. I really liked the way that all the elements fit together really perfectly, but that the characters are aware that this is some kind of weird shit, and that they need to go with the flow of the universe, because going against it they'll basically drown. At times I had a bit of difficulty keeping track of which things involved which character, but that's probably because I listened to it.
Also, the way that Murakami describes people can be a bit... meh? Like, I don't always need to hear what someone's boobs look like. But his descriptions aren't too long, so I managed. But I'm definitely going to be reading more Murakami, I like this style of magical realism a lot.

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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

so while I want to give this book high marks for literary merit and I recognise all the metaphor and symbolism, I hated reading this and I just don't understand why it was even created lol.

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roaree's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-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? No

4.5

I really loved this book. It was mysterious and super mind-bending. I was confused for a while but in a good way, the situation was set up pretty well and readers don't get answers until the end.

Of course, some of the relationships were disturbing and descriptions of some women were weird but you're always going to get that with a Murakami book.

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