Source- Medium
Kafka on the shore is one of the most popular and intriguing novels written by Haruki Murakami. In the words of John Updike, one of the greatest American novelists, ‘It is a real page-turner, as well as an insistently metaphysical mind-bender.’
Introduction
Book’s name- Kafka on the shore.
Author’s name- Haruki Murakami.
Genre- Mystical Realism, Fantasy, Suspense.
Language- Japanese (original)
Synopsis- Spoiler Alert!
Published in Japanese in 2002, Kafka is an epic literary puzzle filled with uncanny episodes, magical worlds and hidden histories of Japan. The book is structured around two parallel stories of a 15- year-old boy Kafka Tamura, who, in an attempt to escape from his tyrannical father and an awful family curse, runs away from his home; and an old Japanese man, Satoru Nakata, who after awakening from coma somehow gets a knack of talking to cats!
Kafka’s journey represents the overwhelming sense of sadness and the inner turmoil that has been scarred on him because of his miserable and dark past. He constantly looks at his past and wonders if his future has already been determined. As one reads along with the book, they come across the different experiences of love, loss, joy and melancholy that the boy discovers along his journey.
Nakata, on the other hand, seems to have a different take on life than Kafka has. He is an elderly man who lived most of his life in solitude, without any particular purpose. He is as empty as a blank sheet, with no judgements, opinions or attachments with anything. Like a raft floating along with the river, not being bothered by anything that comes it's way, Nakata, I felt had a somewhat similar persona.
Although at the start of the book, the characters seem to be on their own journeys, their paths, however, intertwine at the end of the novel for an intriguing and hyper-surrealist ending.
About the Author
Source- Newyorker
Haruki Murakami (Murakami Haruki, born January 12, 1949) is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been bestsellers in Japan as well as internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and selling millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the World Fantasy Award, the Franz Kafka Prize, and the Jerusalem Prize.
Growing up in Kobe before moving to Tokyo to attend Waseda University, he published his first novel Hear the Wind Sing (1979) after working as the owner of a small jazz bar for seven years. His fiction has polarized literary critics and the reading public. He has sometimes been criticised by Japan’s literary establishment as un-Japanese, leading to Murakami's recalling that he was a "black sheep in the Japanese literary world".
Meanwhile, Murakami has been described by Gary Fisketjon, the editor of Murakami's collection The Elephant vanishes (1993), as a "truly extraordinary writer", while Steven Poole of The Guardian praised Murakami as "among the world's greatest living novelists" for his oeuvre and achievements.
Self-Analysis.
The collision of different worlds is a common theme underlying in the works of Murakami. His novels often forge a connection between personal experience, Japanese history and mystical-uncanny possibilities.
Murakami in most of his novels likes to keep an open-ended story and prefers leaving the interpretation of his work to the reader’s perspective. And probably that’s what makes him intriguing. ‘A search for meaning’ seems to be the main theme that the book revolves around.
At the end of the novel, Kafka finds himself in a dilemma to choose between the two worlds, one that we live in, and the other which he finds in the middle of a deep dark forest. As Kafka, enters through the bushes, he is welcomed by ‘two soldiers’ who seem to live beyond the time and space of the real world.
According to the description of it in the book, the world is a complete void with houses scattered here and there, and few people living in there. Not much feeling, joy or dynamic goes on there. It’s just a simple world where everything exists in a dull, perfect order.
From my point of view, the two worlds represent the inner world inside our heads where everything works according to us, and the outer world, the world that we live in. Kafka being scarred by his past and scared of an even worse future creates a world inside of his head where everything flows without any particular direction. He creates a world to find freedom of escapism from the real world.
This dilemma of choosing between the real world and the imaginary world is something that all humans experience. As we go on with our lives, sometimes our thoughts can be so provoking that our mental health gets shattered to pieces. That’s why many people, diagnosed with different mental illnesses, may decide to remain in their imaginary worlds.
Famous Quotes
“It’s all a question of imagination. Our responsibility begins with the power to imagine”.
“Silence, I discover, is something you can actually hear.”
“Chance encounters are what keep us going.”
“When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”
The Bottom line
Kafka on the shore, although is very intriguing and a real page-turner. But it definitely had some parts which were unsavoury or somewhat controversial. I personally feel that this book is not for sensitive-hearted people, who cannot tolerate plots on unpleasant topics. However, in the end, this book will definitely compel you to read more books by the author and will make you reflect on the lessons of a lifetime.
My ratings for the book- 3.5 on 5
Get your copy from Amazon- Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Written by Paridhi Aggarwal
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