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"Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew, a young London businessman with a good heart and an ordinary life, which is changed forever when he is plunged through the cracks of reality into a world of shadows and darkness—the Neverwhere. Learn more | See related books
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Giving a quick plot synopsis is not exactly an easy thing to do for Kafka on the Shore, or any Murakami book. Let’s just say that Kafka on the Shore has many of the Murakami staples: lost cats, cats talking, eccentric types, alternating storylines, slacker types, American pop culture, music, wandering, and ventures into different realms. Kafka on the Shore follows two storylines: one a teenager named Kafka who has decided to run away from home, the other an odd, elderly simpleton named Nakata who experienced a strange incident as a child which left him with odd powers. As we progress further into the plot, Kafka and Nakata stories begin to coincide with one another. Both of these plotlines have the theme of the journey or wandering towards an unseen destination, the destination being both physical and metaphorical. I think this journey from both characters represents a part of finding oneself, coming to terms with one’s identity. This comment is probably a gross oversimplification, though, because there is a deeper transformation going on as well. Along the way, there a bevy of interesting characters: Miss Saeki, a mysterious woman who works in a private library; Oshima, her assistant who often spouts philosophical wisdom; Hoshino, truck driver and slacker type, Colonel Sanders, a “concept.”
The basis for the book’s title is the name of a song, “Kafka on the Shore” that Miss Saeki wrote when she was young and in love. Kafka reads through the lyrics and becomes enamored with the tune. The song’s lyrics mentions “little fish” raining from the sky and a girl’s “search for the entrance stone”, both which are part of this novel. In fact, the song is sort of an allegory for much of the novel’s premise.Read more ›
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At its essence, Kafka on the Shore is a beautifully written story of an alienated fifteen-year-old boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home to escape a painful past and ends up on a journey to find a reason to live. But it’s told in an original and fascinating way that challenges the bounds of reality.
This is the second Murakami book I’ve read, after 1Q84. Perhaps two books are too few to establish a pattern, but I’ve noted the following: his main characters have an intense but understated internal life; and he likes to interweave a second story that parallels the ‘real world,’ but has little regard for reality. And this latter world is the more fascinating of the two.
In 1Q84, I became engrossed in the alternate reality, only to find he dropped some of the best characters about two thirds of the way through the book. I don’t expect every thread in magical realism to be tied up neatly with a bow, but it remained frustrating to invest in a character and have them merely vanish.
No such problem exists in Kafka on the Shore. Kafka’s series of encounters and adventures are for the most part real, and the people he meets are well drawn, each with their own issues. But Murakami alternates chapters with a second thread, the story of Nakata, an elderly man, who became a simpleton as a child during World War II, following an extraordinary occurrence that, in effect, erased his mind. Nakata follows a parallel journey that gradually converges with that of Kafka, but in a way far from what we’d think of as reality. Nakata talks to cats and makes fish rain from the sky, but can neither read nor write.Read more ›
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Have you ever experienced one of those realistic dreams that take place in the time and space between sleep and waking up? Anything is possible that realm. And no matter how outrageous it might seem later, at the time everything feels more vivid and more real than your waking world? For that moment in time, and despite all appearances to the contrary, your ability to discern connections runs free of logical restraints.
Kafka on the Shore reads like one of those dreams. It's something apart from your daily world. You think it's spilling over into your waking memories, but if you take a closer look, you recognize how it's always been a part of you and always will be.
And just like one of those dreams - one so fabulous, so fantastic, and so utterly involving - you don't want it to end.
What makes it so? The poetry of Mr Murakami's metaphors strike deep. His characters are well drawn, each one unique in their uniqueness. They're not transparent and definitely not predictable. To say what or who they are would not do them justice and would sell your experience short. However, when it's all said and done, and if you open yourself up to the self understanding, it's not difficult to see that each one is a part of you.
And the story itself? Well, like Nakata or Hoshino, you must be patient to see where events take you. Just when you think you have it figured out, Mr Murakami adds another twist to the plot or to the metaphor in play all the way up to a very perfect ending. And you still don't want the dream to end even though the alarm clock of the last word on the last page is ringing out, telling you the dream is over and it's time to put the book down.
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