I can see how they fit within the story, but I still found them really confronting and almost too much to read through on one occasion. The sections of the book that I didn’t really enjoy, and which prevented me from giving this a 5 star rating were the really violent or gruesome scenes. “All these millions of stars looking down on me, and I’ve never given them more than a passing thought before” p145 Throughout the story characters dwell on what it is to live a fulfilling life, to regret, and to forgive, and I enjoyed exploring those possibilities along with them. I found myself pausing to reflect on certain passages, or sections of the novel. There were many really thought-provoking aspects of this book. The setting is modern-day Japan, overlaid with the strange blend of fantasy that Murakami weaves into so many of his stories. All sorts of strange things happen to them both, from a gruesome murder, to fish and leeches falling from the sky, ghosts appearing, and stones opening portals to different worlds. Kafka on the Shore follows the parallel paths of a 15 year-old runaway named Kafka, and an old man named Nakata who can talk to cats. It is the 6th novel I have read by the heavy-weight of modern Japanese literature, and I am yet to be disappointed. Blending magical realism, alternate history, parallel worlds, and coming-of-age, this novel covers a lot of ground in 500 odd pages. Kafka on the Shore is strange, thought-provoking, and confusing, as only a Murakami novel can be.
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