Wednesday, September 06, 2006
book report: Kafka on the Shore
Kafka on the Shore
by Haruki Murakami
I have been hearing people go on and on about Murakami for years. I had kind of come to the conclusion that his books were pretentious faux-intellectual novels for hipsters. I'm not sure that reading Kafka on the Shore really changed my opinion, but I was pretty intrigued by the story. And the writing (albeit in translation) was really quite good.
In this story, a 15 year old boy who has renamed himself Kafka runs away from home. His distant father has told him he is cursed to kill his father and sleep with his mother and sister, like a modern Oedipus. Kafka's mother and sister left Kafka and his father when Kafka was a small child, and he hasn't seen them since.
In a different plotline, an old man named Nakata lives in a government-subsidized apartment and talks to cats (who talk back), even though he cannot read or write. As a boy, Nakata was involved in a mysterious event in a forest, where an entire class of schoolchildren lost consciousness for no apparent reason. Nakata's and Kafka's storylines begin unconnected, but become interwoven as the novel progresses.
So here's the thing. There were a lot of elements to this book that I enjoyed - it was fresh and creative and not like any other story I've read... but I ultimately felt like I was missing the point, or perhaps that Murakami didn't have a point to make. I was frustrated when the book came to an end. I was expecting something fairly profound or at least an explanation of some of the mysterious events, but it didn't happen.
by Haruki Murakami
I have been hearing people go on and on about Murakami for years. I had kind of come to the conclusion that his books were pretentious faux-intellectual novels for hipsters. I'm not sure that reading Kafka on the Shore really changed my opinion, but I was pretty intrigued by the story. And the writing (albeit in translation) was really quite good.
In this story, a 15 year old boy who has renamed himself Kafka runs away from home. His distant father has told him he is cursed to kill his father and sleep with his mother and sister, like a modern Oedipus. Kafka's mother and sister left Kafka and his father when Kafka was a small child, and he hasn't seen them since.
In a different plotline, an old man named Nakata lives in a government-subsidized apartment and talks to cats (who talk back), even though he cannot read or write. As a boy, Nakata was involved in a mysterious event in a forest, where an entire class of schoolchildren lost consciousness for no apparent reason. Nakata's and Kafka's storylines begin unconnected, but become interwoven as the novel progresses.
So here's the thing. There were a lot of elements to this book that I enjoyed - it was fresh and creative and not like any other story I've read... but I ultimately felt like I was missing the point, or perhaps that Murakami didn't have a point to make. I was frustrated when the book came to an end. I was expecting something fairly profound or at least an explanation of some of the mysterious events, but it didn't happen.
Labels: book reports
