Kafka on the Shore

by Haruki Murakami

467 pages

English language

Published Nov. 6, 2006

ISBN:: 978-1-4000-7927-8
Goodreads:: 4929

(21 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

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 …

John Peden reviewed Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

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

4 stars

The book gets a little too over the top with some of the sexual things, as some Murakami books do, but I was blown away by the surrealism. Definitely something that takes a while to digest and set in. Might be updating the review later after I can process it more.

Eszter reviewed Kafka on the shore by Haruki Murakami

Review of 'Kafka on the shore' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

"The whole world is a metaphor". No sentence could describe this book better. At the same time it is also a labyrinth and a collection of riddles which you are trying to puzzle together.
It describes several stories of characters running in parallel. Their interconnection is not clear until the very end and even after that, there is still a lot of place of interpretation.
That is one of the few books where the next event couldn’t be foreseen at all, the whole time you can look out for clues to find out what it means.
Even after reading, the book leaves you wondering what it does mean. You can think about theories but you will never know for certain.
That characteristics is major for this book. It is for certain excellent.

Acton reviewed Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

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

5 stars

Haruki Murakami adds his own brand of magical realism to ancient themes, seasons to taste, and shakes it all up. The result is--delightful. Just go with it!

And again, he's compelled me to listen to something I would never have discovered on my own--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eika4rkMOGY

(Yes, that specific version)