Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Kafka on the Shore
Book Review: A quieter beat
Summary: 5 Stars
Sometimes you voraciously read a living author's books and then realise that he or she should be due for publishing a new one shortly. At this point you start to worry a bit. Will it be as good? I had to wait a couple of years for Haruki Murakami.
He has quite a substantial back catalogue to get through - if you have read at least some of them, you'll have a fair idea of what to expect with Kafka On The Shore; if you haven't then you may find yourself hunting them all down as I have been doing for the last nine years.
Kafka comes close. And it is not at all disappointing. I think perhaps that it is quieter than other Murakami works, some of which pack a substantial emotional punch if you're generally a sensitive sort of person, but it is tightly plotted and wonderfully smooth.
Book Review: Don't be put off!
Summary: 5 Stars
Personally, I am always wary of 'surrealist' writing (often self-consciously 'weird' and seemingly designed to confuse) but this compelling novel has overcome my fear! Its surrealism doesn't aim to shock or baffle the reader, but encourages them to suspend their disbelief, in the way that a child does (when reading about talking cats and the like!) The novel is written in a deceptively simple style, but carries as many complex themes as you are prepared to discover. It's a magical quest, definitely read it!Book Review: Interestingly intriguing
Summary: 4 Stars
I found this book quite different to those that I would normally read, but was thankful for it. I was completely captivated by the first half of the book, but for some reason the second half left me wanting more from it. If you are looking for a different perspective on life, this book would be a good start to opening up your mind. Book Review: Blew My Mind
Summary: 5 Stars
Have literally just come out of the book and finished the final page. Straight online to share my thoughts and find out others. One of the most beuatiful books I have ever read. Sitting on the bus going to work and I open the book and I am completely taken in - forget where I am. Am very confused at the conclusion of the novel. My immediate reaction was that the village Kafka was taken to was based where the children all fell unconcious and lost their memories as memories do not exist there. That it was a place special people went to when they found the stone or a dreamlike place where you could go subconciously??? I actually have no idea as then I think about Nakata and where he went to when he died etc... All too raw and fresh in mind. All I will say is that I will ALSO be very annoying and pester all my friends to read the book and try and find a brain that has read it to analyse with. Book Review: Compelling
Summary: 5 Stars
What a wonderful book, the definition of a page-turner. The novel is really two stories in one, and slowly they both loosely intersect. The first main character is Kafka, a 15 year old boy who hates his father, so he runs away from home to find himself. The other main character is an elderly man called Nakata, who is rendered mentally defective at a young age and then develops the ability to talk to cats (no really). So much happens in 'Kafka on the Shore' that it would be fruitless for me to write an overview, but what I really loved about this book is that you get completely lost in Kafka's journey and want to know what's going to happen next, and then the following chapter is about Nakata. At first you start reading faster to get back to Kafka's story but then you get engulfed by Nakata's, and the same happens again when you get back to Kafka - it's brilliant. I thought the ending was a little clich? at first, but once I thought about it, I realised it was just a return to the normalcy that began the book. Highly recommended...