Book Review: Kafka on the Shore

Haruki Murakami is one of those authors whose writing completely alters your viewpoint on certain topics. He typically employs magical realism into his style, writing grounded stories with great characters, but with a hint that there are other forces at play not always apparent to the reader or clear by the end of the story. He’s been writing seemingly forever, but produces novels somewhat rarely. Also, the length of his books varies widely, which I can appreciate. Murakami tells the story that’s there; he doesn’t keep expanding a novel for the sake of it. Likewise, sometimes he produces a massive tome, like 1Q84. Kafka on the Shore never felt like a burden to read from a length or prose perspective, but it’s the story and characters that made it so.

The book follows two separate story lines which intertwine in interesting and unexpected ways. One narrative follows Kafka Temura, who is a fifteen-year-old runaway who flees Tokyo to escape a disturbing prophecy/curse dealing with his father. The second narrative follows Nakata, an elderly man whose cognitive ability and memory seem to have been severely degraded, but he somehow has the ability to speak to cats. The prose moves about in a dreamlike fashion and it isn’t always clear which events actually happen and which are only in the characters’ heads. The book is at times absurd and at times eerie and strangely interconnected.

Kafka on the Shore is a book that made me think and continues to do so. It’s even one that might merit a second reading someday. The only parts of the book that put me off were some strange incestuous sex scenes which were entirely out of place and unnecessary. Murakami is known for pushing boundaries and making the reader uncomfortable when he needs to—I get that—but this seemed like a bridge to far for me. Still, the rest of the story was so good I try to put those parts out of my mind and enjoy it for what it is.

Rating: 4.5 / 5 (Without some of the weird sexual deviance it would have been a 5. The story and writing were incredible but those baser aspects made some parts difficult to read).

Find Kafka on the Shore on Amazon.