Reviews - Kafka on the Shore

12.6k reviews for:

Kafka on the Shore

Haruki Murakami

4.03 AVERAGE

lhjh's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

never read anything like it. the incest was weird i will say. but the plot appealed to the psychology student in me & was so interesting. also johnnie walker’s death scene was insane

tordelch's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ejrathke's review against another edition

4.0

Despite the dumbest critique of feminism ever put to print, Kafka on the Shore mostly holds up very well.

By going through Murakami's career this year, I've been extremely disappointed. Even The Wind Up Bird ended up being a big bummer for me. However, Hardboiled Wonderland still held up, and I think this one does too. So I've sort of thought of Kafka on the Shore and Hardboiled Wonderland as my favorites. They're the most bizarre and surreal and I think that may be why they still work.

The peculiarity of how he writes characters has struck me as somewhat alien in these rereads. It's a problem way too many published authors have. Writing like they've never met another person. But, here, and in Hardboiled Wonderland, the way reality kind of bends around things makes this alien kind of characterization work.

Anyrate, this novel is sometimes brutally aggressive in ways I didn't remember. I'm not sure how I feel about some of these choices, but, overall, I think the novel works very well.

This has given me some renewed hope in Murakami, so as I turn to the backend of Murakami's career, I'm hoping the novels at least stick at this level.