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#91: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Cannonball Read / Brian Prisco

Book Reviews | June 8, 2009 | Comments (10)

I often compared Murakami to Kurosawa, because I am a narrow-minded racist, but also because before I was acquainted with their works, I thought they were works that people bandied around to sound more intellectual. But then after actually experiencing it for myself, I realized that while cerebral and dreamily existential, they’re also amazingly badass.

I’ve only read two other Murakami before this, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Hard Boiled Wonderland. I found them both to be great reads, but I also felt there were almost a little too out there for my personal tastes. I had trouble accessing them as much as I would have liked. It didn’t necessarily hinder my appreciation, but it made me a little reticent to pick up the works. It’s the same reason I tend to space out foreign films — it’s a world I need to hold my breath before I dive into, and I can’t stay there too long without coming up for air.

Kafka on the Shore was different. I was drawn into the narrative immediately, which spills out slowly, as it changes between the two main characters: Kafka, a young 15-year-old runaway who holes up in a library to escape an Oedipal prophecy, and Nakata, a mental deficient who speaks to cats. Indeed, it’s weird that I was able to access this novel, particularly since it’s a ghost story involving talking cats. But Murakami’s style is so natural everything over the top just works.

I think that the supernatural works better in the older foreign cultures. For some reason, ghosts work when they exist in Japan, Italy, England. And this ghost story is particularly bizarre. The strange beauty comes as the two stories interweave. Not because it’s startling or shocking, but because it’s so outstanding. Murakami infuses his story with a multitude of fascinating characters, and to explain them would be to give away pleasant surprises.

I had stalled on reading this, because I had assumed it would take me a really long time, as I find Murakami to be dense and heady, but this was practically a breeze. It’s a brilliant novel that had me grinning with delight.

This review is part of the Cannonball Read series. For more of Brian’s reviews, check his blog, The Gospel According to Prisco.


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Comments

My favourite book this year. So poetic and coarse and perfect.

Posted by: Sara at June 8, 2009 9:43 AM

I was in Barnes and Noble the other day browsing and I came across Murakami. I didn't buy any of his stuff because I rarely buy books without recommendation, but I'll see if our local library has some available now, he sounds like an interesting author.

And nothing of his can be more dense than 2666. I feel stupid just thinking about that book.

Posted by: Genny (also Rusty) at June 8, 2009 10:51 AM

"I tend to space out foreign films — it’s a world I need to hold my breath before I dive into, and I can’t stay there too long without coming up for air."

That is such a pity. There's a whole world outside of hollywood. My only complaint about this website is that it doesn't feature and review foreign films enough. It's always bitching about Hollywood, its shittiness and commerciality and yet there is a whole world of beautiful Japanese, Italian, German, Mexican, Iranian, French etc films out there which never get mentioned. Dustin even often complains there are no films to review! There's more ways of telling a story than the Hollywood way. It's a pity so many people feel intimidated by a film being foreign or think reading subtitles is too much hard work. What some of these foreign directors achieve on usually relatively low budgets is amazing.

The last foreign film I watched was Mongol (international name Mongol: The Rise To Power of Genghis Khan). My verdict? Brilliant!

Posted by: barf at June 8, 2009 11:02 AM

I love all things Murakami and I too was slow to pick him up. I agree he can be much further out there than my normal tastes, but unlike other authors, I find I'm so mesmerized by the prose that when I can't keep track of the craziness of the story I don't care.

Posted by: jack at June 8, 2009 11:35 AM

As I sit at my computer writing this, Kafka on the Shore is staring at me from the spot it has occupied on my desk since I picked it up last October. I still haven't read it; I haven't found the time. I picked it up because the film teacher I adored recommended Murakami to me. I actually debated between this and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles for some time in the bookstore before finally settling on this one. Now I guess I'll have to make the time, won't I?

P.S. Mr. Prisco, I'm fairly certain you and I share at least some brain cells.

Posted by: Anna von Beaverplatz at June 8, 2009 1:36 PM

Murakami polarizes people, which is probably the reason I love him so ridiculously much. He is completely and utterly segregated (by personal choice and not) from the old guard of Japanese literature. He's able to write the most ridiculous situations in a way where they seem so common place. If he tells me that a man gets together with a giant frog to fight a worm in order to save Tokyo...I'll believe it. No questions asked.

It's been five years and finally he's released something new. (Though After Dark was only translated into English last year) Ichi Kew Hachi Yon's (1Q84) first day sales alone are ridiculous.

I HIGHLY suggest you take a stab at "Norwegian Wood". His most "grounded" of all his novels and in my opinion...it's truly his best.

Posted by: Ren at June 8, 2009 1:58 PM

I'm so glad this was reviewed. I haven't read it but assigned is an an option for Advanced Placement Seniors for their summer reading. I was going to pick it up this evening and start tomorrow. Thank goodness I have something to look forward to.

Posted by: JustMoFo at June 8, 2009 6:10 PM

A few months ago, I went to see the Steppenwolf production of this book, and I gotta say, I didn't love it. When I got around to reading the book, I could understand what the play was trying to get at, but somehow the staging of the supernatural elements got in the way of that half of the story. Nakata was brilliantly characterized but the world that he moved in was so highly abstracted and stylized that it was hard to get into.

Of course, seeing Colonel Sanders on stage made up for everything.

Posted by: Lyrinoir at June 9, 2009 10:29 AM

This is one of my favorite books. I was fortunate to have picked this one first out of all the other Murakami novels lined up on the library shelf! I intend to give it another go in the future.

Posted by: Giv at June 9, 2009 6:47 PM

i like murakami too and i enjoyed this one more than i enjoyed the wind-up bird chronicle. i suggest you read sputnik sweetheart. it's short and pure murakami

Posted by: splinter at June 9, 2009 10:56 PM