Kafka on the Shore

Written by Haruki Murakami

Narrated by Oliver Le Sueur and Sean Barrett

Kafka on the Shore is the latest novel by Japan’s leading literary novelist, who developed a world-wide cult reputation with Norwegian Wood. In Kafka on the Shore, Murakami continues with his remarkable combination of profound insight into humankind with a totally credible touch of the fantastical – a unique tour de force. The teenager Kafka Tamura goes on the run and holes up in a strange library in a small country town. Concurrently, Nakata, a finder of lost cats, goes on a puzzling odyssey across Japan. Only gradually do we find how these stories interweave.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
• Release date: Apr 1, 2006
• ISBN: 9789629546250

Reviews for Kafka on the Shore

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Some pretty good writing, but the plot leaves something to be desired.

[danielstj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A tantalizing, reimagining of life amidst the prowess of Murakami. I thought this was extremely well written and performed well. At points, not all the links folded together (or so I thought) but, overall, it was a worthy contender for the basis of contemporary fiction. Kafka is an entrancing youth in the book that deals with so much and Nakata is a fully fledged character in his own right. There is much to like, learn, and live through here.4.25 stars- well deserved!

[phoenixterran · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Haruki Murakami is an international best-selling author and one of the most recognizable Japanese novelists currently writing worldwide. Therefore, I find it somewhat surprising that I actually haven't read much of his work. Before picking up Kafka on the Shore I had only read two of his books--1Q84 and Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche--in addition to a small selection of essays and interviews. 1Q84 was my introduction to Murakami; it was both an incredibly frustrating and invigorating experience. I loved parts of the novel but strongly disliked others. 1Q84 probably wasn't the best place to start reading Murakami, and so I've been meaning to give another one of his novels a try. I settled on Kafka on the Shore, originally published in Japan in 2002, for several reasons. It's one of Murakami's best-known works. Philip Gabriel's 2005 English translation won the World Fantasy Award. The novel's young protagonist basically runs away to a library. But mostly, I wanted to read Kafka on the Shore for the sake of one character, Oshima, with whom I happen to share quite a bit in common.Fifteen-year-old Kafka Tamura, though that's not his real name, has just run away from home. He leaves behind his father in Tokyo just as his mother and sister left the two of them behind more than a decade ago. Kafka's plan is simple--travel to a faraway town and make a place for himself in a library. That's how he finds himself in Takamatsu, over four hundred miles away from the home, father, and life that he wants to escape. There he seeks out the privately owned Komura Memorial Library where meets Oshima, an assistant at the library who takes Kafka under his wing. Meanwhile, strange events are unfolding around Kafka and the people in his life. Back in Tokyo, a man by the name of Nakata with the ability to talk to cats finds himself pulled into Kafka's story. Though the two have never met they share a strange connection with each other that neither of them are entirely aware of or expected.The chapters in Kafka on the Shore alternate between Kafka and Nakata's individual journeys. Kafka's chapters are written in first-person present, giving them a very intimate and immediate perspective, while Nakata's are written in third-person past, creating more distance. At first the two stories seem to be completely unrelated, but as Kafka on the Shore develops the tales steadily draw towards one another and connect in shocking ways. Kafka and Nakata's paths never directly cross but they do influence each other and those of the people around them. Ideas, concepts, and turns of phrase, not to mention actions and their consequences, echo throughout the novel, tying seemingly disparate events together into a cohesive whole. There is a lot of loneliness in Kafka on the Shore. The characters are searching and reaching out for these sorts of connections and relationships, both consciously and subconsciously. They are individuals yearning to find what is missing from themselves and from their lives, often disregarding time and reality in the process.Much as with 1Q84, there were parts of Kafka on the Shore that I adored and other parts that I found immensely frustrating. In general, I preferred the earlier novel over its later developments. For me, Kafka on the Shore worked best when it was more firmly grounded in reality with hints of the unexplainable, mysterious, and strange rather than the other way around. As the novel progresses it becomes more confusing and dreamlike. That in and of itself isn't problematic, but towards the end of Kafka on the Shore Murakami begins introducing bizarre elements seemingly out of nowhere that do very little to develop the plot or the characters. Readers looking for closure from Kafka on the Shore may be disappointed as there are plenty of threads left unresolved by the time the novel reaches its conclusion. Despite my frustrations with Kafka on the Shore I am glad that I read the novel. I appreciated the importance giving to books and the influence of music; I found the characters intriguing; and although the story goes a little off the rails, I liked Kafka's peculiar journey of discovery and coming of age.Experiments in Manga

[quigui · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Kafka on the Shore is a very strange book. It was loaned to me (thrust my way, that is) by a friend singing its praises and saying it was just like an anime.The backcover reads: Kafka on the Shore tells the adventures (and misadventures) of two strange characters, whose lives, running side by side throughout the novel, will eventually prove to be full of enigmas and mystery. These are Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home at age 15, pursued by the shadow of a dark prophecy that one day was launched by his father, and Nakata, an elderly man who has never recovers from a freak accident he suffered as a young man and who has devoted much of his life to a cause - seeking missing cats.This oversimplifies a lot. It is true that these two characters lives run parallel to each other, almost meeting in the end. But Kafka's journey is not simply that of a runaway kid, he is running away from an Oedipal prophecy, made by his own father (who has quite a few screws loose). He will take refuge in Komura Library, where he meets Oshima with whom he has philosophical and metaphysical conversations about life, literature and music (in fact, these made me want to read more Japanese literature - I've added Akinari Ueda's Tales of Moonlight and Rain to my wishlist, and started Kawabata's Snow Country). Kafka's tale is mostly of coming of age, and becoming strong to be able to survive the world.Nakata's story, together with the reports of the incident that left him unable to read and write, or learn anything, but with the strange gift of talking to cats, is amusing at first, but growing more deep and poignant as the chapters advance. Nakata is responsible for most of the surreal things happening in the book, although it is not really his fault if it rains fishes, or leeches. I really liked Nakata, and his relationship with all the characters that he meets. He is really a nice old man, who isn't very bright, but is quite happy that way. But what starts with a quest to find a missing kitty, ends up being the journey of his life, setting right what was wrong.And between these two characters there is Miss Saeki, a connecting point between the stories, a woman for whom time has stopped, in the sense that she stopped living, only being able to exist after the death of her fiancé. She will be important to Kafka, helping him become the “world's toughest 15-year old”, and the ending point of Nakata's quest.When I finished the book, I wasn't sure I had liked it. I wasn't sure I disliked it either. It's the kind of read that needs digesting, that you can only know how much it touched you when, 6 months later, you still recall the story and the feelings associated with it.What is great about Kafka on the Shore is that I was there with the characters, in the same places they where, having the same adventures as them. It is not that I loved the book, it wasn't that great, I just didn't want to leave that world. I would love to keep going to Komura Library with Kafka, having lunch and conversations with Oshima, or walk on the forest, with trees looming over me, or even keep going west with Nakata and Hoshino, and talking with cats.Also at Spoilers and Nuts

[stevenjohntait · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book had the perfect balance - plot, pace, surrealism, realism.

Sometimes when reading a book split with different protagonists, I find myself favouring one and wishing to hurry through the other's parts to get back to the protagonist I'm most interested in, but for the most part it was not the case with this one.

The dialogue was a bit hard to follow for me due to the abstract ways in which the characters conversed, but still a great book.

[grandpahobo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a beautifully written story. It clearly takes the story of Oedipus as the root of the plot. However, having never read the original, I can't say how closely it follows it.

The majority of the story is told through the internal dialog of the characters. So little of the substance of this internal dialog actually translates into interactions between the characters, but they react as if they are aware of all that hasn't been said. Its as if they all are acting from the same script, but have agreed to only say 10 percent of the lines out loud.

The writing is lyrical and engaging. I never felt like I had to push through any part of the story.

I think this is one of those books that you need to read two or three times before you can fully appreciate it.

[lukes_171461 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Kafka on the Shore" does not achieve the same ultra-high voltage effects of "Hard-Boiled Wonderland," but this is a wonderful trip. This is a combination coming-of-age, sci-fi saga, that twists a family up and dumps them in a time warp. There are numerous cultural references, beyond cataloguing here, but this is a very well-read 15 yer-old who changes his hame to Kafka, after the famed Czech author. There are oedipal overtones, but nevertheless, this is a srtong theme of giving yourself up to love. In 435 pages, the pace doesn't necessarily flag, but I'm still puzzling over some of the everyday minutiae described at such length.I recommend this book for its strong fantastical element - it's Murakami after all, and because it's so captivating and out there - it's Murakami, after all.

[cindywho-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Two stories of runaway's intertwine but never quite meet in this dreamy novel. One is 15, running away from a sad childhood and the other in his 60s, running with an agenda, mysterious even to him. It suffers from some creepy bits and translation awkwardness, but I'm glad I finally gave Murakami a try.

[mjs110-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Jonathan Ross's eel-heart eating on the F-Word brought back memories of Princess Simba...

[pzr-2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I want to like Murakami. My writing and reading friends keep on telling me how good he is. First they recommend this title, then that. I try them out, making a genuine effort to see what all of the fuss is about. I respect my friends' opinions. 'Norwegian Wood' is the best of them that I've read so far - a charmingly elegiac book. This, on the other hand...

I read the whole book and it felt very long indeed. There were parts of it that I enjoyed. The fantasy sequence in the 'other world' drew me in and the rainstorm of fish was a nice touch. Overall, though, I found it pretentious and rather silly. A book that is so heavy on dialogue needs to make its characters speak more convincingly. Maybe it's the translation (he said, being charitable). There were sections that began with a character saying something along the lines of, 'Tchaikovsky was a genius, right?', followed by a five-page high school essay on the subject. These sections were patronising and poorly executed. And the main character felt like a weaker rehash of the guy from 'Norwegian Wood'. He was the straight man to a host of pantomime characters, all of whom, to me, were entirely unbelievable. Any book that references Kafka has to be better than this. I must be missing something, I think.

I'm told that I should read 'The Wind-up Bird Chronicle'. On this evidence, I'm not sure that I can bring myself to do so.

[abergsman-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is my second Murakami book, and it enchanted me just as much as the first one that I read years ago. And once again, I marvel at how suspenseful his novels can be, while lacking the typical elements of suspense.

At its heart, this is a story about fate. Can Kafka escape his fate? His father's legacy of violence that is alluded to, but never described in detail. Can he halt the Oedipal prophecy that his father held over him during most of his childhood; a prophecy that he will kill his father and sleep with his mother and sister. The Oedipus theme runs throughout the story, without overpowering the story.

The chapters about Kafka Tamura alternate with another story, that of Nakata, an older man that was victim to a mysterious incident during his childhood, and has never been the same since. Nakata can talk to cats, but is unable to comprehend the world around him. He feels hollow inside, but is not crazy.

One of the greatest achievements of Murakami, at least in my opinion, is his ability to blend the typically mundane, day-to-day realism with the abstract and bizarre. His novels are also like a puzzle, leaving the reader to search for a clear solution, with all the pieces in their proper place.

Ultimately, I give it 4/5 stars. It lost a star for the somewhat unsatisfactory and meandering Nakata storyline.

[heycaye · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I finished reading this days ago and I still don't know what to make out of it.

The storytelling is superb, I'll not deny Murakami that he has that kind of superpower. He takes you to this story, introducing runaways, mentally-challenged people with golden hearts, unbelievably kind strangers, talking cats, raining fish, raining leeches, living ghosts, evil flute players- and it carries you away. Murakami's world is amazing.

But too much happened and too little explained. What was it about the flute? So many cats died on that but it never was fully explained. And the living ghosts? The ones in the forest? What was that about? And why did Kafka fall in love with this fifteen-year-old ghost immediately? What was so special about her? Also, how come Miss Saeki, someone I thought who possessed rational thinking, consented to having sex with a boy 35 years her junior and quite possibly her son? And Nakata... poor Nakata, who I actually loved. Was that the ending he deserved? I was confused when I finished.

I tried to analyze the story again but I realize, maybe that's not how this book is read. I was too bothered figuring things out that I forgot how much I actually enjoyed reading this book. But I could've enjoyed this more if it wasn't as hazy as it was.

[thewasp_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating parallel stories of a 15 year boy who runs away from a broken home and a 60 year old man who never fully recovered from an incident as a child. Both are seeking to find themselves. The book has a dream like quality where the bounds of reality are blurred.

[jfdr_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My favorite.?

[ella_wold · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is amazing! The book is very descriptive, and was written well. The only downside of the book, is that there are several very detailed sexual scenes. Other than that, the book was great!

[fips-4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Giving this book a three-star rating seems unjust. When reading it, I found much I liked about the work, yet having had a few days to digest it, find myself struggling to justify just exactly what I found so appealing.

To deal first of all with the good, Kafka on the Shore is on a basic level a decent page-turner. Two related stories are interwoven, chapter for chapter, and while they don't necessarily come together in the end, the narrative is nicely paced and suitably eventful to keep the reader engaged. There are various themes on display, from the Oedipal tragedy and the journey to adulthood, together with more complex issues dealing with time and reality, and plenty of the metaphorical and surreal elements to spice things up. If you aren't enamoured by 'magic realism' this will no doubt be an instant turn-off.

As for the prose, which some other reviewers have complained about as stilted or to be blamed on the translation, I found the book to be for the most part very pleasantly written. It must be said that the translation is American, which for a British reader did jar on occasion. There were also moments when the dialogue came across as particularly unrealistic and forced, but this probably has more to do with Murakami squeezing in a lot of metaphysical/philosophical discussion. This is a novel in which 15-year-olds can discuss interpretations of Schubert, and pick up books on Napoleon's Russian campaign on a whim. It won't appeal to everyone, but the discussions and ideas floating around in the book make for interesting intervals in the action.

Unfortunately, having finished the novel I found my admiration began to wane. As others have pointed out, there is no 'satisfactory' conclusion, which on its own is no problem, rather that none of the various threads of the novel have any answers. Thinking back, I find that what I read as interesting and titillating discussions or metaphorical events simply turned into question marks hanging over the book's closed cover. The author himself suggests readers should use the book's riddles to find their own solutions, and that multiple readings are recommended, but for that I have neither the time nor the inclination.

To my mind, Kafka on the Shore is a perfectly interesting diversion, and one which works on some levels as an engaging story. But where it tries to become more deeply meaningful, it offers only disconnected ideas that the reader has to piece together if he is to see any of the picture. This was my first Murakami, and whilst the book hasn't made me a fan, it also hasn't put me off picking up another of his novels should the opportunity arise. But for the sour aftertaste, it even deserves an extra star, or the sheer joyful way in which he has written a modern day fairy tale cum parable.

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Haruki Murakami is an internationally star in the literature world, so I decided to read this book. Kafka on the Shore is one that I see mentioned frequently as the book to read - so that is what I picked to read.First - this a retelling of the Oedipus, where the lead character will kill his father and sleep with his mother, but told in an entirely new way which I am still mulling over. Between the confused leading character of Kafka Tamura, who plans for years running away from home and does at age 15 (with an imaginary, maybe, friend). The secondary story of slow Nakata, who fell in a mysterious coma as a child during WWII and woke up with amnesia and can now talk to cats, and his friend/keeper Hoshino a truck driver who is curious about Nakata's mission to close a mystical door. These two stories interweave with each other, not quite coming together, but always parallel, tell of a strange happening that isn't quite real. The book is well done, the translation is good -but it seems a lot deeper than it actually is. Take away all the weirdness, and all you have is a confused kid with a distant father. Nakata's story is much more interesting but it doesn't quite come together at the end. Its a pretty book, but that is all it seems to be.I did enjoy reading it, so I'll give the author another shot, and put this book back on the reread pile.

[berly_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Finished it! So many people have read this; there are so many reviews and I just can't do it justice. Definitely one of my top reads of the year. Loved, loved, loved this book! Read it. 5.0

[ebt1002 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an amazing work of magical realism. Peppered with profound passages, deftly weaving humor, irony, and musings on the universalities of the human experience, it is the story of two people, 15-year-old Kafka Tamura and the elderly and illiterate Nakata, whose paths are inextricably drawn toward one another.... Talking cats, raining fish, Johnnie Walker and Colonel Sanders --- literary devices that *sound* just downright silly --- are used by the brilliant Murakami to move the story along and provoke the reader to suspend disbelief and *recognize* the role that metaphor, dreams, and fantasy play in any work of literature (not to mention philosophical musings about the meaning of time, memory, and life in general). Murakami's novel comments upon itself as it tells its story. Kafka and Nakata are both lovable characters and they are surrounded by intriguing lovable characters, but none of that is the point. What is the point? It would be hard for any one reader to say.... It's one of the most satisfyingly complex novels I have ever read and I'm keeping my copy for a future reread.

[rbeffa_2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I wish I could recommend this book - I wish I could love it. But I cannot. There is a deeply disturbing scene about one quarter of the way into the book that I cannot accept as valid. The author went somewhere that I cannot accept, try as I might. It isn't the only disturbing scene - there are a couple things in here not to like, each disturbing in a different way, among dozens of charming and interesting things. You never know what is real and what is a dream in this book, which is fine, unless you are playing the reader, which Murakami does by putting some of the ick in likely dreams. I don't care - it is still ick. So there is good stuff in here, but the bad cards trump the good.

[septima-3 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Not for me.

[theidlewoman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the second Murakami novel I read and I absolutely adore it. It's both a sensitively-written coming-of-age story and a fabulous journey into a surreal world rich with cultural allusions. I wish I knew more about Japanese customs because I am sure there was so much that I was missing! As ever, Murakami's characters are bewitching and the plot is a fascinating hybrid of "Alice in Wonderland" and the Oedipus myth. Prophecies, dreams, talking cats and another world beyond a wood... Mind-bogglingly brilliant.

[arubabookwoman · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a kind of "quest" novel, with two different main characters on separate quests which may or may not ultimately converge. Kafka is a teenage boy who feels unloved by his remote, cold father, a sculptor. He runs away from home, possibly in search of his mother, who abandoned him when he was a young boy, and a possible sister. Along the way, Kafka is befriended by the ambiguous Oshima.The other main character is Nakata, an elderly man who as a result of a mysterious incident in World War II is simple-minded. He can converse with cats, however, and can cause fish and leeches to fall from the sky like rain. During a search for a missing cat, Nakata comes across one of the most memorable characters in my recent reading (and not necessarily in a good way) who looks like Johnny Walker. Murikami describes one of the most graphic, cruel and horrible scenes I've ever read. This event causes Nakata to take off on his quest, although it's not very clear what he is seeking. Along the way, Nakata is befriended by Hoshino. The novel alternates between Kafka and Nakata as they progress, and their paths begin to converge.I found the book reminiscent of A Windup Bird Chronicle, which I read years ago, in that magical and seemingly impossible things happen that seem perfectly ordinary and logical to the characters experiencing them. I was puzzled by the book, and while books which blur the boundaries between the real and the surreal often annoy me, in this case I accepted this dreaminess and illogic. Perhaps this is because of the skill of Murakami's writing, which made this book a real page-turner. The book brought me into a different world, and although for me in the end the mystery was not resolved, I still felt while reading the book that everything made sense. I can't say Murakami is a favorite author. I've now read two of his books, and have a couple of his other books on my Kindle that I expect to read one day. I just have to be in the mood to experience the surreal before I immerse myself in another of his books.Murakami says of the book, "Kafka on the Shore contains several riddles, but there aren't any solutions provided. Instead, several of these riddles combine, and through their interaction the possibility of a solution takes shape. And the form this solution takes will be different for each reader."3 stars

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is my first experience with Murakami, after meaning to get around to sampling his work for ages, and... Well, I don't quite know what to make of it. I don't even know how to describe it. It's about a teenage runaway and an old man who can talk to cats and a library and a weird incident in the Japanese countryside during WWII and... And, no, that doesn't do it at all. None of that remotely conveys just how odd this book is. But to say that it's surreal, even though it is, doesn't seem to cover it, either. It's just... odd. Bizarre things happen that are never fully explained, even though explanations are hinted at. (Well, sometimes. A little. Maybe.) There's some weird, potentially very disturbing stuff with sex and animal cruelty. A lot of it is very metaphorical, often even pointing out the fact that it's metaphorical. Everything in it is very clearly connected, but it's not always clear exactly why or how. And there are lots of digressions to talk about literature or music or philosophy, any one of which may be relevant or may just be the author indulging his interests, it's hard to tell.All of which makes it sound like a muddled mess, but the truth is, it's very readable. Surprisingly readable. But also a little frustrating, as it's not a short book, and after a while you start to get the distinct feeling that it's not actually going to tie everything together at the end in way that makes coherent sense. Which it doesn't. But that's less unsatisfying than I expected, because it does make a sort of dreamlike sense. Maybe. I honestly don't know. What I do know is that, however mixed my feelings about it, it was certainly interesting. And that I will definitely give Murakami another shot in the future, if only so I can continue trying to figure out what I think about him.

[jaredorlando-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant.

[crystallyn_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hands down one of the best books I've read this year. I can't wait to pick up every other thing that Murakami has written!

[albertgoldfain · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful book club pick that I probably wouldn't have picked up otherwise. A parallel coming-of-age/restoring-of-youth novel that is very willing to go to the philosophical deep end, especially with regard to temporal parthood of persons and theories of reference in fiction. I also enjoyed the weaving in of musical significance throughout.

[brakketh-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very open ended (read unresolved) novel about a young man named Kafka for one of the narratives and an old man with mystical powers Nakata. I love the magical realism and the characters approaches to life.

[bahzah · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Philosophical, weird, totally absorbing, coherent, awesome...Kafka, a 15 year old runaway in Japan, is trying to find his mother and sister while escaping the curse of his father. From the beginning, he works toward building his strength and understanding –qualities he will need as he slips between the real world and dreams, in and out of time, and is led by forces beyond his control.Counterbalancing Kafka is a much older Nakata who even with his very strange handicap possesses wisdom and perfect timing. The two characters are entwined in parallel journeys – each working to resolve different aspects of the same mystery.Well written, easy to read, and puzzling by nature, this book grabbed me from the beginning and wouldn’t let me go. Characters go beyond three dimensions. Every event impacts another. Filled with magical realism, this story explores with sensitivity issues like time, loss, memories, abandonment, friendships, death, and intimacy. You will find talking cats, ghostly libraries, and classical music. Fun quote: ”A long while later, after the files were completely burned, Hoshino stomped the ashes into dust… ‘Nobody’s gonna read it now,’ Hoshino said. ‘I don’t know what was written in it, but it’s all gone. A bit of shape and form has disappeared from the world, increasing the amount of nothingness.’‘Mr Hoshino?’‘What’s up?’‘I have a question I’d like to ask.’‘Fire away.’‘Can nothingness increase?’Hoshino puzzled this one over for awhile. ‘That’s a tough one,’ he admitted. ‘If something returns to nothing it becomes zero, but even if you add zero to zero, it’s still zero.’‘I don’t understand.’‘I don’t get it either. Thinking about those kinds of things always gives me a headache.’”

[adrateia_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is such an amazing book. Absolutely beautiful story, so well-written and fast-paced I could hardly bare to put it down. I loved every moment of it.