Review – Rate – Recommend

Kafka On The Shore
by Haruki Murakami

It took me a re-read to appreciate this novel, at least a little. Truth was, I didn’t really like it the first time I read it. There was something odd about it. Murakami novels have always been weird, but I felt like this one was even weirder than usual and I finished it with mixed feelings. Even so, I couldn’t hate it. There was something about the novel that made me feel like there was something wrong with me instead of there being something wrong with the novel. It was like the novel was mocking me because I couldn’t understand it instead of feeling down because I couldn’t appreciate it. I sound paranoid, don’t I? Giving the novel a personality, and a very proud one at that. Still, those were what I felt and those were the reasons why I re-read the novel. (I do not want to be mocked by anybody- or anything. Much less an inanimate object.)

It turned out to be a good decision. Though it never managed to be a favorite, I at least had an understanding of what it was about. I caught up on things that I didn’t notice the first time around. I think it was very deep and, as is constantly hinted, is packed-full of metaphors. Not that I understood all of them.

The main reason why I didn’t enjoy it the first time was because of the writing. There was something amateur-ish, for lack of better word, about it. Not the whole novel, mind you. Just the Crow parts. Okay, maybe my prejudices lie on one thing alone: The boy named Crow. Call me crazy, but it annoyed me to no end. The way he repeated a statement into another point of view. Just when everything was getting all dramatic, he butts in and the spell is broken. I don’t get his purpose. Or maybe I did but just refuse to acknowledge him as someone useful, someone who can move the story along. I get the whole symbolism thing about him, but that doesn’t mean I have to like him, right?

The other reasons are just petty and not worth mentioning. If I did, I’d spoil quite a good portion of the novel.

The one thing that made me, well, not exactly like it but at least not hate it, was the alternate world. I didn’t really look deeper into that the first time but now, reading between the lines, everything seems so surreal and dreamy and beautiful. It was the one thing that I could never forget long after putting the book down. And of course, there’s Oshima, the mushroom story and Oshima.

This will perhaps never be my favorite Murakami novel but it will remain unforgettable because it was dreamy and because of the cocky personality the book seemed to have towards me.

I cannot rate this because 3 seems too small and 4 too big.