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Kafka on the Shore
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 895.635
EAN: 9781400079278
ISBN: 1400079276
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 480
Publication Date: January 03, 2006
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: January 03, 2006
Studio: Vintage
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Editorial Review:
The opening pages of a Haruki Murakami novel can be like the view out an airplane window onto tarmac. But at some point between page three and fifteen--it's page thirteen in Kafka On The Shore--the deceptively placid narrative lifts off, and you find yourself breaking through clouds at a tilt, no longer certain where the plane is headed or if the laws of flight even apply.
Joining the rich literature of runaways, Kafka On The Shore follows the solitary, self-disciplined schoolboy Kafka Tamura as he hops a bus from Tokyo to the randomly chosen town of Takamatsu, reminding himself at each step that he has to be "the world¹s toughest fifteen-year-old." He finds a secluded private library in which to spend his days--continuing his impressive self-education--and is befriended by a clerk and the mysteriously remote head librarian, Miss Saeki, whom he fantasizes may be his long-lost mother. Meanwhile, in a second, wilder narrative spiral, an elderly Tokyo man named Nakata veers from his calm routine by murdering a stranger. An unforgettable character, beautifully delineated by Murakami, Nakata can speak with cats but cannot read or write, nor explain the forces drawing him toward Takamatsu and the other characters.
To say that the fantastic elements of Kafka On The Shore are complicated and never fully resolved is not to suggest that the novel fails. Although it may not live up to Murakami's masterful The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Nakata and Kafka's fates keep the reader enthralled to the final pages, and few will complain about the loose threads at the end. --Regina Marler
Kafka on the Shore is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom.
As their paths converge, and the reasons for that convergence become clear, Haruki Murakami enfolds readers in a world where cats talk, fish fall from the sky, and spirits slip out of their bodies to make love or commit murder. Kafka on the Shore displays one of the world’s great storytellers at the peak of his powers.
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His work has been translated into thirty-four languages, and the most recent of his many honors is the Yomiuri Literary Prize, whose previous recipients include Yukio Mishima, Kenzaburo Oe, and Kobo Abe.
Haruki Murakami’s After the Quake; Dance Dance Dance; The Elephant Vanishes; Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World; Norwegian Wood; South of the Border, West of the Sun; Sputnik Sweetheart; Underground; A Wild Sheep Chase; and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle are available in Vintage paperback, as is Vintage Murakami, a selection of his finest work.
Translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - First book by this author that I could not finish
I made it to about 50 pages from the end, but there just wasn't enough to sustain my interest. For the last half of the book I found myself losing interest in the characters and their fates. This is the fifth book of Murakami's that I have read, and the first that I could not finish. Obviously he has the skill and creativity to engage a reader's interest, and I was fascinated by aspects of the story, such as "Johnny Walker" but towards the end I just didn't care.
Rating: - But Murakami's Short Fiction Has Social Messages
Murakami has performed a little magic himself. He's written a novel that is shorter than some of his short stories. The longevity of stories like "A Shinagawa Monkey" is to be measured by their influence on the minds of its readers, lasting long after the last paragraphs are experienced. Months after that story appeared in The New Yorker, I was still considering the effects that personal identification has on my thinking about who I am. Nothing similar is effected by Kafka on the Shore.
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Rating:  - Mind-blowing!
This book took me by surprise. I didn't anticipate a book required for my english class to hold such creativity and depth.The multiple stories intertwine to make an altogether incredible read and thought-provoking novel. It's definetly worth the time and mind power to get sucked into.
Rating: - Not Impressed
My eagerness to enjoy Kafka on the shore on my 5 hours plane was quickly poured with cold water. the books starts out too slow, with a pace that makes me feel like after turning a few pages, all the words I've read don't mean a thing. I'm not sure if that's my mind state that changed since the last time I read The Chronicle of the Wind-up Bird (which I loved so muchhhhhhhhhh) or his pace is not the same, but I'm sure it was a bit annoying to not see anything progress after a while, so I decided to ... Read More
Rating:  - Pretentious, self-indulgent rubbish
Don't waste your time reading this tripe. I suggest you try Wind Up Bird Chronicle, which is quite a decent, if rather twisted, read, then give up on Murakami completely.
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