Why you should read “Kafka on the Shore”.
“Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.” — Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami is a 2002 Japanese novel, translated into English by Philip Gabriel in 2005. The narrative follows the story of a young 15-year-old boy, Kafka Tamura, who leaves his home where he lived with his father, and sets out on a journey to escape a prophecy.
Here’s why you should read it.
Magical Realism
Blurring the lines between reality, and magic
Kafka on the Shore is a classic when it comes to magical realism. Set in the Kagawa prefecture on the island of Shikoku, Japan, this rich blend of surrealism and magic revolves around the 15-year-old athletic yet reticent Kafka Tamura, and his journey to the unknown city of Takamatsu, which strangely feels like a long-lost home. The twisting turn, however, comes when our protagonist realises that the city, more so the library where he stumbles upon, may not be as inconsequential as it all seems. And as the story unfolds, the reader gets sucked into a world that makes no logic, but still feels all the more captivating.
Captivating Personalities
We love to take up new personalities, don’t we?
The characters in this book all have their own unique flair, ranging from Kafka’s persistent and reticent approach, to Oshima’s erudite and scholarly mind. Introducing heavily personalised roles generally comes at a cost of a confusingly vast arc, yet Murakami does it oh so well. This subtle variety gives the book a pure, aesthetic edge over the others in the field.
Suspenseful Simplicity
You never know how mysterious mediocrity can be
Haruki Murakami is a conventional, yet exceptional writer. Nearly all his books (although controversial at times) can be tied together as interesting exemplifications of the most mundane of things. You would be surprised to read how the protagonist going on about his daily routine in the book can seem so kafkaesque.
Questioning Magic
Did it really happen or…?
Kafka on the Shore is riddled with a heart-pounding reality, infused with the magical realm of talking cats, flying fish, and ominous crows. The thing that will surely strike a reader’s attention is how blurry the line between reality and magic can be. In fact, the story is structured in a way that almost every bit of the magical acts can, in the end, be terminally put as imaginations of the human mind. Whether to believe in the magic, or doggedly dismiss it all as the delicate intricacies of the conscience, it is solely the reader’s choice.
And finally, here are some excerpts from the book —
“Silence, I discover, is something you can actually hear.” — Kafka Tamura
“In everybody’s life there’s a point of no return. And in a very few cases, a point where you can’t go forward anymore. And when we reach that point, all we can do is quietly accept the fact. That’s how we survive.” — Oshima
“According to Aristophanes in Plato’s The Banquet, in the ancient world of legend there were three types of people. In ancient times people weren’t simply male or female, but one of three types : male/male, male/female or female/female. In other words, each person was made out of the components of two people. Everyone was happy with this arrangement and never really gave it much thought. But then God took a knife and cut everyone in half, right down the middle. So after that the world was divided just into male and female, the upshot being that people spend their time running around trying to locate their missing half.” — Oshima
“As long as there’s such a thing as time, everybody’s damaged in the end, changed into something else. It always happens, sooner or later.” — Miss Saeki
