Genres linked with this book
  1. Philosophy

Kafka on the Shore

A fifteen-year old boy elopes from his father's house and assumes a new name, 'Kafka'. He starts on a hunt for his estranged mother and sister while living with an alter-ego, "The Boy named Crow". Satoru Nakata is an old Second World War survivor with little mental abilities left. As a child, after losing most of the faculties of his mind, Nakata got the uncanny power to talk to felines. Nakata and Kafka are two very different people from two very distinct worlds, but with a lot of hints of similarities. One is an avid reader and the other, a finder of cats. When both these characters set out on their own journeys, the story slowly finds their lives getting entwined together. The various people they meet on this journey are both intriguing and insightful. Murakami's fantastical tale has elements of suspense, sexuality, ethos and comedy, having got different interpretations of the book from people worldwide.
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3 Ratings
Chandni Joshi Reviewed on: 21-05-2022
Kafka on the shore

This was my first read by Murakami. It's indeed a grappling tale about two main characters, Kafka, a 15 year old run away with a bag of skeletons form his past and Nataka, a character so naive that you feel sympathetic towards him. The author's style of writing made this book unputdownable.

Akshata Lolayekar Reviewed on: 12-08-2020

Synopsis: Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under the shadow of his father's dark prophesy. The aging Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his pleasantly simplified life suddenly turned upside down. As their parallel odysseys unravel, cats converse with people; fish tumble from the sky; a ghost-like pimp deploys a Hegel-spouting girl of the night; a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-aged since World War II. There is a savage killing, but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle - one of many which combine to create an elegant and dreamlike masterpiece.