From the Bookshelf of The Filipino Group…

Kafka on the Shore

Haruki Murakami,

Philip Gabriel (Translator)

Start date: August 1, 2021

Finish date: August 31, 2021

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What Members Thought

Jun 27, 2010 Ranee rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I stepped outside of the hospital after a long duty that almost caved me in. There was a certain smell in the air that was disconcerting. It bothered me a bit, not knowing where to place this smell until finally, I took a deep breath and realized- it was the sweet smell of change. Yes, I told myself, definitely, change is already here.

The change in the air brought memories of this book (or maybe the nostalgia of a tiring day, then again I don't really know). And the memories were vivid, the sc I stepped outside of the hospital after a long duty that almost caved me in. There was a certain smell in the air that was disconcerting. It bothered me a bit, not knowing where to place this smell until finally, I took a deep breath and realized- it was the sweet smell of change. Yes, I told myself, definitely, change is already here.

The change in the air brought memories of this book (or maybe the nostalgia of a tiring day, then again I don't really know). And the memories were vivid, the scenes sprang out of my mind as if I was reading it again, I saw Kafka with his backpack and his alter ego, Crow, soaring up above. Saw Miss Saeki sitting in her study looking as beautiful as she was described in the wonderful words of Mr. Murakami. And of course, Mr. Nakata and his simple ways of seeing the world and the wonders of having the gift of speaking to cats. And dear Hoshino, a regular guy who ended up having an adventure of his own. And who would forget the ambiguity of Oshima with his literature and musing ways. The key concept for this book is change. A chrysalis that imbibes the growth of each character and as you go along, you know a part of you too is transformed. Whether it was for good or bad, is found in your own core of existence, nevertheless, a movement is done, you are not the same person after you've read this book.

A boy named Kafka Tamura took an adventure of a lifetime and forgot to put the seatbelt on. He was at the edge of his seat while the driver was on 140kph on a dirt road with one busted tire. And this he did when he was only 15. During that age, the only thrill I got was sitting at the back of the tricycle driver and momentarily removing my grip from the side bars. Mine did not include being lost in the forest and having to run away from a prophecy that included killing my father. It did not involve the subtle Oedipal complex or the chilling feeling of living at the edge of the world, the realm between this and that end where sanity is a mere pigment of someone else's imagination. What I did share with this boy Kafka is his will to own his destiny. He refused to give in, harnessing his own horse and claiming his own future. He did this with such readiness a boy scout will fall ashamed. He had everything in his backpack and a carefully laid out plan. He was running away from destiny and clasping his own future. In his mind, this is real, that his is a future that is built in his own accord. But Fate had her own plan, carefully mastered beyond this boy named Kafka's realm of reality- He shall have an adventure, twist it in the middle so badly a pretzel looks rebonded beside it and in the end, this boy shall find his way back in the start. A full circle has been achieved, Fate brought him in a rollercoaster ride that ended with a thud, he has done what the prophecy has spoke of.
To add to the twisting tale of Kafka is an old man named Mr. Nakata. He was everything that Kafka is not. Kafka is bold, complex and young. Mr. Nakata on the other hand was old, naïve and simple. His was a tale that did not twist for he simply lived as Fate told him to do so. He went to where he needs to be, did things with automaticity like he had invisible threads in his arms and legs pulled by the hands of an unnamed man. But it was his simplicity that won the hearts of many, I for one yearned to know this man, would want to try to wake him up and have him tell me tales of what the black cat thinks of when someone avoids it. But his tale is not as easy as it seems. His tale held the most essential part in the development of the whole story. He filled the void where Kafka ran away from. He was not a mere supporting character, he was a main character too for sometime (as proof, he had his own supporting character named Hoshino, a man whose absence will make Mr. Nakata's character a bore)

Kafka on the shore, a metaphor for the vast shoreline that holds your sanity or the lack of it. Like eddies that challenges the direction of the wave, they clash into your own realm of thought. This was a dream that felt almost real until you realized it was a dream and start to wake up and find yourself in another dream. The possibilities were infinite, Mr. Murakami made sure of that, when you think you grasp where the story is going, you actually don't . So better read on and dream for it to come and then wake up reborn. Changed.

...more

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May 15, 2010 Joyzi rated it did not like it

Shelves: e-book, didn-t-finish-skimmed, author-japanese, 1001-books

WTH is wrong with me?

It seems like everyone I know loves this book and here I am trying to read this book thrice now and I can't even pass through the first chapter. It just seems that I don't understand anything that I'm reading at all.

Maybe it was the work of an alien or something. ...more

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Jun 03, 2008 Toeknee Mabanes rated it really liked it

One minute before midnight, I am compelled to ink my thoughts about Kafka on the Shore by Murakami.

I love reading Murakami he has way with his prose that make you feel alone. His characters have a life of its own no matter how long or short a character appeared in the story. Each character can stand on its own, each with a story to tell. I feel that you can take a less significant character in the book and create a story. I can imagine that girl who sheltered Kafka when he had no place to stay ...more

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Mar 26, 2011 Dante rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, imaginative-lit, novel, general-fiction, prose, haruki-murakami

What do talking cats, Johnnie Walker, Colonel Sanders (yes, the KFC icon), and ghosts have in common?

They're all found in Haruki Murakami's novel Kafka on the Shore.

It's a story about a 15-year old boy who runs away from home to escape his father. It's also a story about an elderly man who has the unique ability to talk to cats and make fish and leeches fall from the sky. Both of the characters are somehow related, but they never actually meet in the novel, although their paths eventually crosse What do talking cats, Johnnie Walker, Colonel Sanders (yes, the KFC icon), and ghosts have in common?

They're all found in Haruki Murakami's novel Kafka on the Shore.

It's a story about a 15-year old boy who runs away from home to escape his father. It's also a story about an elderly man who has the unique ability to talk to cats and make fish and leeches fall from the sky. Both of the characters are somehow related, but they never actually meet in the novel, although their paths eventually crossed.

Kafka Tamura wants freedom, so he escapes to a faraway city. Along the way he meets Sakura, a hairdresser who saves his life one night; Oshima, a librarian who helps him find a place to stay and an employment in a library; and Miss Saeki, who later turns out to be his long-lost mother.

Nakata is not a very bright old man. He's simple-minded and lives all by himself. The government gives people like him a small subsidy every month, and he lives off that. But he has unique gifts. He can talk to cats and he can make the sky rain leeches and tuna and mackerel (just by thinking about it). After murdering a man who calls himself Johnnie Walker (yes, he looks exactly like the man in the famous brand of whisky) and who turns out to be Kafka's father, he escapes to a faraway city and meets a host of interesting characters along the way. Eventually, he meets Hoshino, a truck driver and former soldier, who accompanies him to his destination and becomes his close friend.

Kafka on the Shore is a very strange novel. I think it's because it's mainly a story about exploring one's subconscious mind. I really didn't understand what Kafka and Nakata were experiencing, and how they are both connected to each other. But I like Murakami's writing style. It's very easy readable. The book itself is a page-turner in the sense that it keeps you interested about what's going to happen next to the characters. But I didn't find it very satisfying. I don't know why. I also find it very disturbing that Kafka actually slept with his mother, Miss Saeki! It was a fulfillment of his father's prophecy that Kafka will someday murder his father and sleep with his mother and sister. It's a modern version of the Oedipus myth.

Colonel Sanders makes an appearance as a pimp, and spirits make love with living persons. ...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Judith Arvesu rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: literary, mystery, magic-realism, surrealism

Maybe I'm just getting tired of Haruki Murakami, but Kafka on the Shore took me a long time to finish because I couldn't quite enjoy it.

The prose is as beautiful as Murakami's prose tends to be, but there's something about the story and the main character (Kafka Tamura) that I simply didn't like. The supporting characters were great. I loved old and "I'm kind of stupid" Nakata, Hoshino, and Oshima (although there was this weird point when Oshima went up against a pair of feminist activists and h ...more

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