I need to admit something right off the top here. When it comes to the work of Haruki Murakami I knew VERY little. I’d heard he was a brilliant writer but had never read his work. I was told that he was an author whose work most people either loved or hated, rarely anything in between. I heard how he is basically a superstar author in Japan. But otherwise I didn’t really know anything about his actual work or storytelling style, what genres he writes - none of it.
Based on that I had picked up two of his books, one being a collection of short stories called First Person Singular that I bought when it came out and was being hyped all over, and the other being Kafka on the Shore, which I picked up only about 6 months ago on a whim. When I finally got around to cracking open Kafka on the Shore as my very first introduction to Murakami’s work, I was also informed by a few book friends on Instagram that with Murakami’s work you need to just go with it - don’t try to understand it, just enjoy it.
So that’s exactly what I did.
And whew, what a bizarre, well written, “WTF is going on here” ride it was.
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I’m not going to spend time doing a full review, at least in the “proper” sense. I’m not going to attempt to explain what happens in this book to you, I want you to read it for yourself and see what you think.
But I wanted to take a minute and talk about a few interesting points that popped up for me during this read - cool?
Good.
In a bonkers story like this where you have a 15 year old boy that runs away from home AND seems to have some sort of imaginary or spectral friend telling him he needs to be the strongest 15 year old boy ever to survive, an elderly man that can speak to cats, a jump back in time to a remote town in Japan during WWII in which 16 kids all drop unconscious in the woods on a field trip with all but one waking up apparently totally fine hours later, a man stealing cats for horrific yet totally confusing purposes, some crazy and disturbing sex, and a trip deep into the forest - yeah that ALL happens and then so much more - you might be surprised to find some interesting life advice layered throughout it all.
In fact, that’s the one thing that most fascinated me about Murakami’s writing here. The way he’s able to keep this crazy story super engaging while ALSO allowing his characters to share a ton of quotable and amazing advice. All the while without having it feel forced or preachy. A while back we read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig on the podcast as a book club read and while we were very split on the levels of enjoyment, one thing held consistent for all of us was that it was very heavy handed with the “real life advice being given by fictional characters via story elements” approach. Those bits of advice in The Midnight Library felt like they overpowered the actual story and ruined it in a lot of ways as the book suddenly swerved from magical fiction to preachy self help. I did still enjoy the read, but fully accept it went from interesting and magical tale to preachy self help thinly veiled as fiction in about 2 seconds flat.
Kafka on the Shore is exactly the opposite.
Every bit of advice, the plethora of simple and honest truths about life, writing, the creative process and the like, come across and through our characters as totally natural feeling and 100% in character. It might be easy to miss these moments since they feel so rooted in the characters truth.
It’s one of those books that is sneaky tailor made for reading then re-reading with pencil in hand, which is a testament to Murakami’s writing.
Don’t get me wrong, this story goes to some strange places and will leave you scratching your head in total “WTF IS HAPPENING HERE” mode. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
I honestly think that by the end of it I understand the journey it took us on, at least to some degree. I think I’ll understand it better on a second read someday. Was I left with some questions and some seemingly forgotten and dangling plot threads? Absolutely.
But I also closed the final page of this book and paused to think about it for a couple days. Even though this isn’t a brand new book that was just released, there was something about it that felt fresh, felt different and even a bit challenging while at the same time feeling like a fun and magical adventure romp - and I liked that aspect.
There was a whimsical feel to the story that pulls you along effortlessly yet so much depth to pause and mull over if you want to.
Maybe the best way I can explain it is this.
Picture yourself on a long car ride(or even boat ride). As you travel you stare out the window, daydreaming as the landscape glides by effortlessly. Now and then, though, your eye is pulled by something you almost didn’t notice. Maybe it was a car tipped over on it’s side in the backyard of that bright yellow house you just went by. Maybe it was a sudden school of fish keeping pace with the boat just under the surface that no one but you seems to see.
But you noticed it. An oddity that pulled to you from the lull of the otherwise mundane you’re speeding by.
And now you can’t help yourself.
You notice more and more, the sense of adventure builds and suddenly the world seems to bloom as you pass - but no one else seems to notice. As you travel you keep having the effortless conversations with your fellow passengers outwardly while your eyes deliver the wonder blooming around you straight to your brain and your memory, something for you to think on and enjoy later when the quiet of night creeps in again.
In the end, this was a good journey. It’s a book I think I’ll come back to again - even though there were parts I just didn’t care for. (yeah I’m looking at you creepy sex scenes with disgusting implications) It’s a case of curiosity for me - a curiosity to see what more I can uncover between these pages - and a case of respect for the writing of Murakami.
I think the advice given to me was the best possible advice I could have received, so I’ll pass it on to you now as well.
Go into it NOT trying to understand or trying to “figure out the mystery” or solve the puzzle. Keep your mind open to absorb whatever your eyes may see. Let Murakami take you on the strange adventure he has planned and keep your eyes open for the layers upon layers of depth you might easily miss as you glide effortlessly across his sea of beautiful writing. This book(and his work) may not be for your tastes, and that’s ok.
Prior to reading this one I remember seeing people talk about this book and this author as one that is either super highly regarded and loved or as one that people don’t understand the hype about and kind of hate the work. In other words, a pretty black and white, polarizing type of book and author. You either love it or hate it - no in between.
I don’t agree with that, at least for myself.
While I won’t say I LOVED this, in the sense of it being the most amazing and satisfying book I’ve EVER read, I did enjoy it quite a bit and I have a huge respect for Murakami’s writing from a craft perspective. There were things about this story that I didn’t love. The couple of dangling plot threads or the super uncomfortable sex scenes for example.
I fall into a bit of the in between. I really enjoyed the writing, I can see myself revisiting this book and I do want to explore more of Murakami’s work. Especially since I received a number of recommendations from friends online about THEIR favorite Murakami reads. (I’ll list those below just for fun)
But I also feel like I need to put a little time between this read and my next Murakami read. As I mentioned, I do have his short story collection on my shelf currently(First Person Singular) so that will likely be my next foray into Murakami - but I guess time will tell.
Kafka on the Shore definitely falls into the “absolutely worth checking out, if for no other reason than to experience Murakami at least once and determine for yourself if you enjoy the flavor he’s bringing to the table” camp.
All the best,
Just for fun here is the list of recommendations I was given for which of Haruki Murakami’s books I should check out next! Do you have a favorite you would add to the recommendation list? Leave a note in the comments below!
Lastly, just for fun and if you are new to the work of Murakami, there is this interesting article from The Guardian that was just published titled “Where to start with : Haruki Murakami” that you may find interesting!
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Excellent.