I rarely read book twice not because I think it’s boring the second time around but more for the reason that I have a lot of pending titles I wish to read. Kafka on the Shore by H. Marukami is an exception. I finished reading it again recently and it’s still one of the better fiction books I’ve read.
The story revolves around 2 individuals: First, the supposedly world’s toughest 15-year old, Kafka Tamura, and his eventful fate for about a month or two, and the second, ageing Nakata, who has this weird ability of conversing with cats and has his own share of unusual experience when he was younger. It began with Kafka’s planned escape on the eve of his 15th birthday. Abandoning his only known relative, his father, he has no certain idea where to head next. His mom, together with his adopted sister, left them when he was still young. Primarily the reason why he left his hometown is because he is on the run from something that would destroy him forever, if he stays any longer.
Meanwhile, Nakata leads a sedentary life, barely getting by the Governor’s subsidy, and busily finding lost cats takes up most of his day, a unique trade he secretly (and easily) excelled in. All of these changed course during his task to track Goma, a lost cat, and the sudden presence of an even stranger character, Mr. Johnnie Walker of Scotch Whisky.
It’s about the pursuit of love and truth in the midst of immorality, sexual desires, corruption, life and death, sorrow, jammed with riddles and an unexpected curse. Despite being highly fictitious with events like fish and leeches falling from the sky, a mysterious entrance stone to the other world, and presenting characters like Colonel Sanders (of Kentucky Fried Chicken) and Johnnie Walker (of Scotch Whisky), it will surely leave you thinking, which may not be in a very positive way, but something much profound and unimaginable.
Kafka on the Shore
Haruki Murakami
615 Pages
