kafka on the shore review
Why I read it
This is my first time reading Murakami. Having heard of all the hype, I decided to give his book a try.
What intrigued me to read the book 'Kafka on the Shore' were two things: the name Kafka and the premise of a 15 year old runaway boy (I love escape stories). From the title alone, I guessed the book was going to be about a 15 year old boy who is ill-fated to never living up to the expectations of his father just like the real Kafka but boy was I wrong.
The good
I think many readers can resonate with the book as it beautifully captures the feeling of being lost, searching for one's calling or destiny. As a reader, we get to witness how each character navigate with time. Being put in the shoes of a 15 year old, we too become lost in the world of the book. I love how different characters has a different relation with time. To Kafka, as a young boy, he's confused about his past or the future. To Nakata, he simply lives in the present as the past and future wasn't something he understood. Finally, to Ms Saeki, she is stuck in the past, the memories of his lover. Yet the only way to go through time is to accept happy accidents or misfortune may happen along the way. As Oshima, a character from the book, puts it,
'...let's say all your choices and all your effort are destined to waste. You're still very much yourself and nobody else. And you're forging ahead, as yourself. So relax'. (Ch.21)
The second thing I like about the book is the dynamic between the two characters, Nakata and Hoshino. If it weren't for these two, I would've already dropped the book in the middle for reasons I will explain later. Nakata possesses such purity and innocence that makes you want to know what happens to him. I enjoyed reading how Nakata doesn't know what to do but he'll figure it out sooner or later was fun to read. He'll know it when he gets it. I don't think this is the best approach to time, but I think we can take a lesson or two from it. Similarly, I love reading Hoshino's character growth. He may just be the most relatable character among all of them,
Just live each day as it came. As long as I was alive, I was something. That was just how it was. But somewhere along the way it all changed. living turned me into nothing. Weird... People are born in order to live, right? But the longer I've lived, the more I've lost what's inside me - and ended up empty........Something's wrong with this picture. Life isn't supposed to turn out like this! Isn't it possible to shift direction, to change where I'm headed?
And finally, I love the imagery and the prose. How Murakami described the forest, the painting, library, and music made it easy to grasp and felt nice. It is a magical realism book after all. I could only describe the book as imaginative.
The bad or... the weird
Following the last remark, the book is so imaginative that I'm curious of Murakami's thought process when incorporating the Oedipal curse to the protagonist. It wasn't my first time reading a sex scene but I find most of it to be weird especially when you consider their ages. Reader discretion must definitely be advised here. I honestly jaw dropped at most of the sex scenes and I find some parts to simply be laughable,
I dry off a towel, sit down on the bed and look at my penis - a light coloured, healthy, youthful penis.
Simply profound.
The saving grace is a large part weren't glorified (I mean the rape) and act as a conflict the character themself face. The remaining parts were just weird or act as some sort of relief...
I'd also like the point out that I was considering putting off the book because of how slow it took to reveal the connections between Kafka and Nakata. The payoff was worthwhile but damn did it took a long time.
Conclusion
Despite all the weird things this book has to offer, I would still recommend the book while noting reader discretion must be advised. At its heart, it is a coming-of-age story, a tale of self-discovery which many readers can resonate to.
There is no doubt that I don't fully understand the book. There's a lot of things going on with the 'shadows' and 'the other world' which may have its roots from the Japanese culture which I know nothing of. I reckon it would be better if I take multiple readings of the book. While I might not read the book again (probably read it again in a distant future), I would likely pick up the book again to read some of its evocative, inspirational parts.
Will I read another Murakami book? Maybe.