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Kafka on the Shore |  | Author: Haruki Murakami
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy Used: £2.23
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New (27) Used (25) from £2.23
Seller: toms_bargain_books
Rating:  82 reviews
Sales Rank: 2457
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0099458322
EAN: 9780099458326
ASIN: 0099458322
Publication Date: October 6, 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 82
 Compelling November 5, 2006
Omnipotent (The Tangent Universe)
34 out of 34 found this review helpful
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 cliché at first, but once I thought about it, I realised it was just a return to the normalcy that began the book. Highly recommended...
A fabulous quest June 27, 2006
Mariana Canto Castro (Lisbon, Portugal)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
What can the world's most brave 15-year-old boy do, being haunted by a most fearful omen cast upon him by his own father? The answer is so obvious: start a fantastic journey towards an unknown-subconsciously known destination, aiming for a magical place under the form of a library. If because of such demand cats must talk, men must die, lives have to be changed forever, strange ancient mysteries have to be brought to light, a dumb man suddenly feels the urge to become a better human being and a young boy has to learn the different mysterious paths of life, well .... Those are only minor details.
br /This book is a fantastic metaphor which I've found myself unable to stop reading. The way I understood the story is certainly different from the way almost any other reader will understand it and that possibility of multiple different interpretations according to each one's own life experience is, I believe, part of the brilliancy in which it is written.
br /The text is at the same time funny, amusing, tender and dramatic. The plot is intriguing and the lessons you learn during this journey, well, they are really up to you... All possibilities are left open here. The only thing that can not happen is to NOT read this book. Certainly a masterpiece of modern literature. At the end you enjoyed the art of a master, admired his work, delighted yourself with his mind and, at least for myself, wondered how fabulous it would be to actually meet this author.
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Don't be put off! September 1, 2006
Sarah W (West London)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
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!
Brimming with ideas July 25, 2007
LT10 (Wales)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I can't think of a book that I've read that has so many things going on. It is an overflowing pot full of ideas and sequences competing for your attention. I am still digesting the book - only finished it this morning - but it seems to me the book is about metaphor and writing. There is a world of meaning but it's fleeting and if you try to hold on to it you do so at a great cost. Ultimately, the task is futile. There is also a message about growing up and renewal - we must leave things we love behind and move on. We can carry memories with us. But memories that are held too tightly become like a weight too heavy to bear. Ultimately though this book probably defies synopsis and that is probably the point. It is about the 90% of our mind that we only glimpse through dreams or actions we can't fully understand. It defies rational explanation.
Murakami just gets better and better March 31, 2005
Andrew Howell (Birmingham, UK)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
No need for a long review here. This a superb book, darker and more mystical than his previous novels, but no less entertaining. The story focuses about a young 14 year old who runs away from home and who's fate seem intertwined with a host of other fascinating characters, one of whom can talk to cats and who seems to be able to predict all kinds of strange objects falling from the sky.pBy the end of this fabulous story you realise that this is a very profound and moving book, full of optimism and the possibilities of new beginnings ..p.. but I've already said too much. Just buy and enjoy it!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 82
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