Author: Haruki Murakami
Genre: Magic realism, Fantasy fiction
Theme: Metaphysics, Prophecy, Introspection, Music
Pages:505
The book consists of two different narrative but interrelated plots.
Kafka Tamura runs away from home on his fifteenth birthday to commence on the search of his mother and sister. The boy is plagued by an Oedipal curse. Following a progression of events, he finds a private library in Takamatsu, run by a middle aged woman, Miss Saeki and a polite man named Oshima. They allow him to live in the library where he comes across Miss Saeki’s rendition of “Kafka On The Shore” and learns about her childhood sweetheart’s tragic death. Meanwhile, Kafka’s father is brutally murdered back in Shikoku. The police suspect him to be linked to the horrendous murder and begin inquiring about him, after which Oshima withdraws Kafka to his unfrequented residence in the mountains. The book describes his adventures on even numbered chapters.
“Everyone 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.”
The other protagonist is Satoru Nakata, who lost his memory because of a mystery syncope during World War II, and his story is covered in the odd numbered chapters. He has an adept way of talking to cats and he uses this talent to find missing cats for money. Nakata is guided by fate to embark on a journey away from his familiar home territory. Being an illiterate man he faces difficulties in taking to the road. He befriends a truck driver named Hoshina who accompanies him throughout the old man’s quest. A principle divine force brings the duo to the library of Takamatsu where Nakata meets Miss Saeki. They realize they are companions with incomplete shadows. A metaphysical energy between them causes Miss Saeki to die and Nakata to regain his lost memory.
“Narrow minds devoid of imagination. Intolerance, theories cut off from reality, empty terminologies, unsurped ideals, inflexible systems. Those are the things that really frighten me. What I actually fear and loathe.”
The tales of the two main characters in the story seem to be discrete but Murakami intricately ties their ventures into one single plot. It is a spellbinding novel quite unlike a normal one, where the author has created a surreal world filled with bizarre occurrences. The book firmly governs the lives of the characters by inescapable prophecies. It also envisions the mind to be inextricably linked to the body, yet the feeling of being trapped and disconnected dwells in the minds of the characters. Music is another beautiful and central idea that this book portrays. The book takes the reader into a ride of trance, where one discovers a labyrinth, tries to unravel it and gets submerged in an invasion of emotions. The novel is a complex read, yet oddly satisfying.
I’d recommend this book to be read by the ones who are interested in metaphorical fictions, and want to absorb themselves in introspection through a tale of imagination.
Rating:4.1/5
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