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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was so weird, and I honestly feel kind of weird for liking it so much. The incest was… interesting, I think Murakami added some unnecessary details at times and the treatment of women in this book is horrible. But I loved the story, especially the plot with Nakata and Hoshino, and parts of it will stick with me forever.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A juvenile rendition of the modern day Oedipus. I despise the way he writes women. I really do. For the most part, they flow in and out of the narrative as peripheral characters, as tits on sticks no matter in the human or spiritual form, no matter young or old, serving as the momentary erotic relief amidst the mystical journey of an insufferably moody young male protagonist. For Murakami, a woman, the walking vagina, is apparently Chekov’s gun — if one appears it eventually must be fucked. But at the end of the day, using gratuitous sex and nudity to build to a climax is like relying on the sensory overload of explosions and fast moving cars in cinema. Cheap thrills. And the sad part is, even with these misogynistic moments removed, what remains is still an intellectually flaccid and mediocre attempt at, I guess let’s call it magical realism?
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions.”
— Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
— Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
Kafka on the Shore was my first Haruki Murakami novel, and what an introduction it was—a fun, surreal dream of a book that left me both bewildered and enchanted in the best possible way. From the first page, I felt like I had stepped into a strange, shifting world where the rules of reality were bent, but the emotions rang true.
Murakami blends the mystical with the mundane so effortlessly that talking cats, raining fish, and ghost-like figures somehow feel natural, even necessary. The story follows two main characters: Kafka Tamura, a 15-year-old runaway searching for answers, and Nakata, an elderly man with a childlike mind and the ability to speak to cats. Their parallel journeys feel like two sides of the same dream—mysteriously connected, looping around each other in unexpected and beautiful ways.
What makes this novel so magical is how it floats between logic and the subconscious. Reading it felt like falling into a lucid dream: the scenes are vivid and strange, the characters cryptic but magnetic, and the atmosphere thick with meaning you can’t quite explain—but you feel it. It’s playful, eerie, philosophical, and deeply human all at once.
Murakami doesn’t hand you a tidy resolution, and that’s part of the charm. Kafka on the Shore invites you to wander, wonder, and interpret freely. For a debut experience with his work, I couldn’t have asked for a better guide into the surreal.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A classic Murakami piece. Loved the coming-of-age theme in Kafka's story, while also following Nakata's whimsical adventure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest, Sexual content
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
fuck this book bro why is it so highly rated and why does everyone love it so much