Of fish and incest – Kafka on the Shore
Summary
“Kafka on the Shore” is a strange book. And as our first Murakami, its weird elements were more surprising to us than to the average Murakami enjoyer (I hope this meme isn’t too old to be understood as a reference).
The story we follow is that of Kafka Tamura, the “toughest 15-year old”, who works out on a daily basis, decides to run away from his motherless home and is a bit too emotionally distant to be a real person. He finds shelter in a private library after meeting his sister in spirit and maybe blood, Sakura, who does him a “favour ;)” after a stressful day (heugh), which should give you a pretty good feeling of how sexuality is dealt with in this novel. In said library he meets Mrs. Saeki, who turns out to be a) emotionally disconnected to her surroundings after losing her husband at the age of 20 and consecutively her sense of self and b) his mother.
Mrs. Saeki’s relationship to Kafka is, uh, interesting, in the sense that her son is implied to be the reincarnation of her dead husband, which makes him fall for the 15-year old version of her and then leads to them “dancing the devil’s tango” (heughhh) even though they’re aware of their intertwined family trees. Another member of the library, Oshima, aids Kafka in his flight and as a person to confide in. Unexpectedly, Murakami reveals this character to be transgender.
Our second storyline follows that of Mr. Nakata, an old man whose brain and soul were heavily impaired in a mysterious incident in the 1940s (we think? – you can honestly never be too sure about anything in this book). His journey is one of pursuit of a goal he doesn’t really understand (neither do we) and involves a lot of fantastical elements (talking cats, a flute made of souls and rain made of fish and leeches to name just the most prominent). The fantasy elements of this novel get quite out of hand, as for example the cosmic entity, which desires to create a flute made of all souls, incarnates as iconic brand mascots like Johnnie Walker (as a crazed cat murderer) or Colonel Sanders (as a pimp).
“Your problem is that your shadow is a bit – how should I put it?- faint.
I thought this the first time I laid eyes on you, that the shadow you cast on the ground is only half as dark as that of ordinary people.”
Mr. Nakata’s simple and wholesome persona (yes, even though he murders somebody I find him to be the most endearing character) is accompanied by Hoshino, a lorry driver and self-described simple man, who throughout the story discovers his love for (classical) music and philosophy. As this cast of characters converges, the story starts feeling more and more like a fever dream, which, I feel, is intended as reality and the dream realm start to come closer together. The novel ends with Kafka’s choice to return to normalcy, the death of the cosmic entity and, tragically, Mr. Nakata.
Review
Now, even though I focused on the aspects I find questionable about this novel in this summary (because those are certainly more memorable when it comes to recalling the story) it was still an absolute delight to read. The style Murakami uses to describe happenings or emotions is incredibly memorable and worthy of yet another note merely stating the obvious (“pretty quote hehe”). He uses a lot of metaphors and atmospheric language, intensifying the dream-like feeling you get from reading it. Additionally, the story draws you in with its two-person perspective, made up of two opposites connected by fate and keeps you hooked through its mystical atmosphere and its mixed bag of wholesome and occasionally concerning character dynamics.
The characters themselves are hard to really describe as a whole, since they differ so drastically in depth and function. Whereas some feel like they’re mostly a crutch for our MP, yet still kind of have a distinct personality, some suggest that there is more to them that could be explored in another story, merely tangentially related to that of Kafka Tamura.
“I’m a butterfly, flitting along the edges of creation. Beyond the edge of the world there’s a space where emptiness and substance neatly overlap, where past and future form a continuous, endless loop. And, hovering about, there are signs no one has ever read, chords no one has ever heard.”
Kafka’s story is one of identity and fate, one of a teen running from a prophecy much to the liking of King Oedipus’. And said story is probably more symbolic and interconnected than we could tell on our first read but the ending sadly doesn’t connect the strings as satisfyingly as you’d want it to, so the resolution to the tense build up falls a bit flat.
Unfortunately, Murakami doesn’t expand on or explains the mysterious aspects, e.g. Kafka’s father, whether or not The Boy named Crow is Kafka’s inner voice and what’s up with the cosmic force and its flute. And with our two protagonists never meeting, we were a bit disappointed by the ending. Though these questions might clear up (or get more confusing) with a reread of this novel. But in general, I’d recommend this book to people I know with an incest disclaimer, though anyone I don’t know well might not get a recommendation for a book with incest in it from me.
And for those who might like it: Here’s an image of Mr. Nakata talking to a cat about a different, missing cat that we think is absolutely fabulous.
(Context: While trying to find the photorealistic, lost cat depicted in the photo he is holding, he is talking to a person in this fabulous cat costume and asking about any sighting of said photorealistic cat.)
Are you intrigued or positively horrified by this book? Tell us in the comments below!
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Straight fire review, i will not read this book tho it sounds weirdj
Very good review. I on the other hand actually totally will read this book. It sounds weirdj.
10/10 review points and I on the other hand will genuinely check out this book. It seems weirdj.