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Kafka on the Shore Paperback – January 3, 2006

by Haruki Murakami (Author)

714 customer reviews

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Kafka on the Shore is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom.

As their paths converge, and the reasons for that convergence become clear, Haruki Murakami enfolds readers in a world where cats talk, fish fall from the sky, and spirits slip out of their bodies to make love or commit murder. Kafka on the Shore displays one of the world’s great storytellers at the peak of his powers.

Kafka on the Shore

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The opening pages of a Haruki Murakami novel can be like the view out an airplane window onto tarmac. But at some point between page three and fifteen--it's page thirteen in Kafka On The Shore--the deceptively placid narrative lifts off, and you find yourself breaking through clouds at a tilt, no longer certain where the plane is headed or if the laws of flight even apply.

Joining the rich literature of runaways, Kafka On The Shore follows the solitary, self-disciplined schoolboy Kafka Tamura as he hops a bus from Tokyo to the randomly chosen town of Takamatsu, reminding himself at each step that he has to be "the world¹s toughest fifteen-year-old." He finds a secluded private library in which to spend his days--continuing his impressive self-education--and is befriended by a clerk and the mysteriously remote head librarian, Miss Saeki, whom he fantasizes may be his long-lost mother. Meanwhile, in a second, wilder narrative spiral, an elderly Tokyo man named Nakata veers from his calm routine by murdering a stranger. An unforgettable character, beautifully delineated by Murakami, Nakata can speak with cats but cannot read or write, nor explain the forces drawing him toward Takamatsu and the other characters.

To say that the fantastic elements of Kafka On The Shore are complicated and never fully resolved is not to suggest that the novel fails. Although it may not live up to Murakami's masterful The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Nakata and Kafka's fates keep the reader enthralled to the final pages, and few will complain about the loose threads at the end. --Regina Marler --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Previous books such as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Norwegian Wood have established Murakami as a true original, a fearless writer possessed of a wildly uninhibited imagination and a legion of fiercely devoted fans. In this latest addition to the author's incomparable oeuvre, 15-year-old Kafka Tamura runs away from home, both to escape his father's oedipal prophecy and to find his long-lost mother and sister. As Kafka flees, so too does Nakata, an elderly simpleton whose quiet life has been upset by a gruesome murder. (A wonderfully endearing character, Nakata has never recovered from the effects of a mysterious World War II incident that left him unable to read or comprehend much, but did give him the power to speak with cats.) What follows is a kind of double odyssey, as Kafka and Nakata are drawn inexorably along their separate but somehow linked paths, groping to understand the roles fate has in store for them. Murakami likes to blur the boundary between the real and the surreal—we are treated to such oddities as fish raining from the sky; a forest-dwelling pair of Imperial Army soldiers who haven't aged since WWII; and a hilarious cameo by fried chicken king Colonel Sanders—but he also writes touchingly about love, loneliness and friendship. Occasionally, the writing drifts too far into metaphysical musings—mind-bending talk of parallel worlds, events occurring outside of time—and things swirl a bit at the end as the author tries, perhaps too hard, to make sense of things. But by this point, his readers, like his characters, will go just about anywhere Murakami wants them to, whether they "get" it or not.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Product details

Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Vintage (January 3, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1400079276
ISBN-13: 978-1400079278
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 714 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #57 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Magical Realism
- #158 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary
- #205 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Coming of Age

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Top customer reviews

Great read

ByTim Sudaon April 4, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This absolutely one of my favorite books. The story takes you on a few twists but was very easy to connect to the main characters and their predicaments.

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My head will be spinning a while from this memorable book.

ByJmeyon March 14, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

We are drawn to books that make us feel something, and this one delivers- conjuring up every available emotion from longing to hope to discomfort to wonder. I have not delved into a written world where the characters' thoughts and intentions were so deep and imaginative or the scenes descriptions strike such vivid sensory responses in a long time. Not such a light, fun, or quick read but more a mesmerizing, significant and memorable one.

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A thought provoking, outside the box experience.

ByJacobon May 9, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

If you're looking for a nice, down to earth tale with a comfortable and predictable plot, you won't like this book. Murakami's style of writing is no holds-barred. He creates a dream-world where fish and leeches have unsettlingly started falling from the sky -- where sentient beings that take the likenesses of Johnnie Walker and Colonel Sanders (Yes, the KFC guy.) intertwine with a teenager, Kafka Tamura, who lived with his father, while his mother and sister had suddenly disappeared years earlier. To try and find his missing family members, or perhaps because of the oedipal prophecy his father had revealed, he runs away from home. His life connects with other characters, such as Nakata, a "not-so-bright," yet very polite individual who has the unusual ability to talk to cats, as well as a steel-witted transgender librarian named Oshima, who seems to understand that meeting Kafka was more than just a chance occurrence.

This was my first time reading something from a foreign author, and I was pleasantly surprised. It is written in a very detailed manner which makes it easy to picture landscapes and empathize with the characters, which I liked; however, I felt that all the detail was unnecessary with certain parts of the book, but Murakami leaves nothing unsaid -- even intricate and sometimes disturbing details. Regardless, I did enjoy the book and I believe I will read another of Murakami's books at some point.

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Lacking Intersection but yet still captivating

ByAlfieon July 11, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

The story is quite dreamy, in a sense. I'm still not sure what was the cause of all the strange events but it really doesn't matter. I feel as if Nakata and Kafka should have interested; met each other; come to some resolution about Kafka's father's death; the story felt rushed towards the end as if the author wanted to conclude. Nonetheless, I feel the story has meaning; a metaphor for living. It is up to you to make of it what you wish. My metaphor is still unfolding. I invite you to share yours.

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Poetic, Haunting Tale

ByGina Schildon March 2, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

We choose this to read for our book club on the advice of my 23 year old niece. It was an interesting book- filled with metaphors and symbolism, my first reading of Japanese literature. Written by Haruki Murakami, some of the writing was truly beautiful and haunting. It involves a 15 year old runaway, whose story is tied to an old man named Nakata and his ponytailed, truck driver side kick Hoshino. It was rather a dense read and hard for many of my book club to get through and there is one particularly gory part involving cats, so if you have a weak stomach, it may not be for you. The story opens with an incident on a school outing during World War II, and what happened here is never exactly explained, which was a problem for some of the readers in our group. A lot of the loose ends are, however, tied up and I liked the ending. Overall, I would recommend this book because I found it interesting and different.

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My favourite Murakami

Byamyouson December 1, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

When I first read this book, I felt incredibly frustrated. There were so many things I didn't understand, so many questions left unanswered. If you like things to be tied up neatly, like I do, it will frustrate you too. Maybe you will also come to like that frustration.

Murakami seamlessly brings the magical into the everyday in Kafka on the Shore. Fish bizarrely fall from the sky, cats disappear and enlist the help of old men, and figures such as Johnny Walker and Colonel Sanders pop into the story. There were parts I found difficult to read - especially those relating to Johnny Walker - but this leads to deep satisfaction at the conclusion of Nakata's storyline.

I think the most enjoyable part of this story is trying to figure out how everything fits together, trying to figure out what Nakata and Kafka and Johnny Walker and the creature at the end all have to do with one another. It may be a cause to give up, but I have my theories, and perhaps other readers will too.

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Murakami delivers

ByTon May 8, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Incredible piece of magic realism. Murakami balances action and description to keep the reader engaged at all times. I've read most of his books, this one stands the test of time. Definitely one of my top 3.

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A sublime, if a bit surreal, novel

ByLaifon January 16, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I absolutely loved this book. I think I'm finally going to start reading fiction regularly again now that I've tried a couple of Japanese authors. Japanese writers seem to demand more of their readers than American authors do. If you're looking for a typical storyline, this book is definitely not the one you want to choose. There are three entirely separate stories with different protagonists and physical contexts. One is even set fifty years before the other two. Murakami alternates between these three stories, picking up where he left off with each one at the beginning of the chapters. Eventually it becomes only two stories, but all the plots do not converge until near the end of the book.

Also, I'm beginning to see that some Japanese authors seem to share the predilection of many Japanese animated filmmakers when they use the superstitious beliefs embedded in historical folk tales as plot devices to move the story forward in unusual and sometimes seemingly ambiguous ways. There are parts in the latter half of this book where it's never clearly explained where physical reality ends and the realm of daydreams begins. The reader simply has to sketch out both possibilities in his mind and enjoy sucking the marrow out of the themes that would be implied by both options.

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Most recent customer reviews

Another great Murakami novel

Another really great, thought provoking Murakami novel. I'm a big Murakami fan and this book did not disappoint. It's one of those novels that you find very hard to put down.

Published 32 minutes ago by joea

Nakata's not very bright

The vocal narration of this book was excellent, even though a twenty-something young man was made to sound like a scruffy old man.Read more

Published 5 days ago by Lark Sarong

A masterpiece.

YO CHECK IT OUT this book's representation of trans people? AMAZING. This book's representation of queer people? AMAZING.Read more

Published 7 days ago by Johan

Kafka on the Shore

Interesting book with multiple story lines, as is common with this author. However, I kept expecting the stories to merge into a clever ending.Read more

Published 7 days ago by K. Reiter

An amazing book from an amazing author

A book that will immerse you in its world, with characters so well-depicted that you'll definitely feel a part of it.Read more

Published 11 days ago by Amazon Customer

Nice edition and binding

What can I say...a masterpiece by a modern master. Nice edition and binding. enough said, enjoy!

Published 11 days ago by Lawrence Brotzen

This novel was recommended to me twice in one week by different people

This novel was recommended to me twice in one week by different people. So naturally I bought a copy and gave it a read.

I just finished it and let me say, I love it.Read more

Published 13 days ago by Frankster

Woah

Murakami is a genius if you want to go on a mental journey simply read this book.

Published 22 days ago by Devinkwconch

I love it!

Picture a Japanese Cloud Atlas. Fantastic and weird.

Published 26 days ago by WendyA

Perfect

Great condition, good price and amazing book.

Published 27 days ago by Liza

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