Review by lixard - Kafka on the Shore

mysterious reflective slow-paced

1.0

no. bad. don't read it.
this whole post will be a spoiler

pros:

the writing is very fluid and captivating.
there are some very quotable passages, good wording, murakami
"that's the reality of it. it did happen. you were hurt badly, and those scars will be with you forever. i feel sorry for you, i really do. but think of it like this: it's not too late to recover. you're young, you're tough. you're adaptable. you can patch up your wounds, lift up your head, and move on. but for her that's not an option. the only thing she'll ever be is lost. it doesn't matter whether somebody judges this as good or bad - that's not the point. you're the one who has the advantage. you ought to consider that."
"every one of us is losing something precious to us. lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. that's part of what it means to be alive. but inside our heads - at least that's where i imagine it - there's a little room where we store those memories. a room like the stacks in this library. and to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making new reference cards. we have to dust things off every once in a while, let in fresh air, change the water in the flower vases. in other words, you'll live forever in your own private library."

cons:

bad stuff with no reason. now i get that the thesis of this book is that looking for meaning does nothing and it seems like the tides of fate and the sandstorms of destiny just pull us along and perhaps the way to live is to keep going towards the end. BUT!!! tell me this, sir, does it make sense to partner the themes of fate and choice along with multiple instances of rape, sex with minors, and incest? IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE, SIR!!
we get it, you loved oedipus rex, but.......... did you need to recreate it? isn't it and freud enough for us to suffer through?
also, there is a certain threshold for stopping and dropping the plot to get into philosophical rants. i can excuse it, really! but most of them hold no value to the story! not to mention murakami literally just name-dropping every highbrow media he's ever consumed ever onto his characters, giving us a synopsis, and then... yeah no, it never becomes relevant.
the whole plot is the opposite of a chekhov's gun - basically everything that is brought up will have no relevance later on. EXCEPT his oedipus prophecy... we are continuously, painstakingly, soul-wretchingly reminded of it again and again
also bad biology
also describing every single woman and girl's breasts
also lots of descriptions of penises

i might come back and change how many stars i can morally give this book for the writing... we'll see

Content Warnings