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A review by dejnozkova
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Beautifully written, poetic at times, and with layers of metaphor and philosophy. This book fully encompasses the soul of magical realism as a genre, delivering intimacy and deep reflection underneath the magic Murakami has woven into the everyday life of his characters. The fantastic reaches into the corners of the inner lives we as readers might suffer and fail to express, and are maybe even afraid to acknowledge, and offers sympathetic reassurance and wisdom.
I’ll admit this book was slightly hard to follow metaphorically. The plot was clear but the undercurrents drawing the characters together are easy to miss (at least for me upon first reading), but I don’t think this is the fault of the author. I didn’t do much annotating and I wish I did! This is NOT a book you can expect to rip through as light reading. It is suited for contemplation and needs to be digested SLOWLY by an observant reader, so save this one for when you’re focused.
Anyways… I kinda didn’t like the protagonist in the beginning but about halfway through the book I at least begin to sympathize with him, being hung up on the past while wandering around a bit lost. Miss Saeki really spoke to my soul though because she lives in the past despite how much it hurts but at the same time doesn’t like to talk about it, and it makes me so desperately wish I was Nakata, who rolls with the punches and faces life with raw acceptance. I loved that the characters in this book are foils of each other —that the emptiness of one character is filled by another, and as their paths converge we learn about the importance of acceptance and living in the present in the face of life’s suffering, and that the narratives of our lives are inexplicably interconnected, making us companions to each other, even if we don’t notice.
I enjoyed the motifs in the book —the significance of words and reading, the color blue, water, the color red, split souls/personalities, animal symbolism, etc. and I’d like to look more into how they contribute to this story. I think this is a novel that needs to be read twice or thrice over to be appreciated in its entirety, so I may do so in a couple months and perhaps re-rate it, so who knows.
I’ll admit this book was slightly hard to follow metaphorically. The plot was clear but the undercurrents drawing the characters together are easy to miss (at least for me upon first reading), but I don’t think this is the fault of the author. I didn’t do much annotating and I wish I did! This is NOT a book you can expect to rip through as light reading. It is suited for contemplation and needs to be digested SLOWLY by an observant reader, so save this one for when you’re focused.
Anyways… I kinda didn’t like the protagonist in the beginning but about halfway through the book I at least begin to sympathize with him, being hung up on the past while wandering around a bit lost. Miss Saeki really spoke to my soul though because she lives in the past despite how much it hurts but at the same time doesn’t like to talk about it, and it makes me so desperately wish I was Nakata, who rolls with the punches and faces life with raw acceptance. I loved that the characters in this book are foils of each other —that the emptiness of one character is filled by another, and as their paths converge we learn about the importance of acceptance and living in the present in the face of life’s suffering, and that the narratives of our lives are inexplicably interconnected, making us companions to each other, even if we don’t notice.
I enjoyed the motifs in the book —the significance of words and reading, the color blue, water, the color red, split souls/personalities, animal symbolism, etc. and I’d like to look more into how they contribute to this story. I think this is a novel that needs to be read twice or thrice over to be appreciated in its entirety, so I may do so in a couple months and perhaps re-rate it, so who knows.