Kafka on the shore

by Haruki Murakami

English language

Published Nov. 3, 2005

ISBN:: 978-0-09-945832-6

(16 reviews)

Kafka on the Shore (海辺のカフカ, Umibe no Kafuka) is a 2002 novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. Its 2005 English translation was among "The 10 Best Books of 2005" from The New York Times and received the World Fantasy Award for 2006. The book tells the stories of the young Kafka Tamura, a bookish 15-year-old boy who runs away from his Oedipal curse, and Satoru Nakata, an old, disabled man with the uncanny ability to talk to cats. The book incorporates themes of music as a communicative conduit, metaphysics, dreams, fate, the subconscious. After the release of the book, Murakami allowed for questions about the novel to be sent in, and responded to many of them. The novel was generally well-received, with positive reviews from John Updike and the New York Times.

15 editions

das_@bookwyrm.social reviewed Kafka on the shore by Haruki Murakami

Review of 'Kafka on the shore' on 'Storygraph'

1 star

A quite interesting mystery full of self-discovery at its core, with quite an unusual narrative that tells this story from multiple angles at once, this book seemed quite promising from the start. However, the overly casual dialogues that oscillate between intentionally inarticulate and pseudo-intellectual quickly got on my nerves, and the subsequent attempts to make light of pedophilia as well as incest were only the last straw. I'm fairly confident that this is the worst book that I've read in the past decade or so.

hsubu reviewed Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Review of 'Kafka on the Shore' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is my first Murakami book. And I really liked his style of writing. Murakami has a knack for capturing beauty, mood, and scenery perfectly. And that is what stood out for me among all the magical realism and philosophical ideas in the book. Just like how reality can be modeled by mathematics in a much better way if imaginary numbers are used, with skillful writers like Murakami, magical worlds can convey the truth and real feelings better than hyper-realism. I do not claim to have solved all the riddles the plot posed, but I doubt that is the point of the book. Unlike his mastery of building and conveying the mood and beauty, Murakami's attempt at conveying philosophical ideas is not as successful. Some of the philosophical ideas unintentionally felt like funny philosophical arguments written by Douglas Adams. But that is just a minor gripe I have in an …

Utsob Roy reviewed Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Review of 'Kafka on the Shore' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

আমি এখনো পর্যন্ত মুরাকামির এমন কিছু পড়িনাই যা ভালো লাগেনাই আর পড়া শেষে মুখে ২দিন তিক্ততা থাকেনাই। এই তিক্ততাটা খানিকটা ডিপ্রেশনের তিক্ততার মত।

বইটার জনরা ম্যাজিক-রিয়্যালিজম। গল্প যতটা আছে, সমপরিমাণ সেই রিয়্যালিটির জীবনবোধ আছে। সাধারণত গল্প-উপন্যাসের রিভিউতে গল্প বাদে দর্শনটার কথা বলা হয় স্পয়লার দিতে না চাইলে। এক্ষেত্রে সেটাও করা যাচ্ছে না।

মুরাকামি তার স্বভাবসুলভ শার্পনেস, ঘোরলাগানো ও আইকনোক্লাস্ট ভাবমূর্তি বজায় রেখেছে।