Kafka on the Shore follows the fortunes of two remarkable characters. The aging Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his pleasantly simplified life suddenly turned upside down. There is a savage killing, but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle.
Staff Choice: Sophie
“What’s it like?” my colleague asked me the other day and the best I could think to say is, “It’s a Murakami book.”
Because it is, entirely: gentle, polite, weird, magical, menacing, multi-layered, strands of story left flapping, a coming together of worlds, side characters that become main characters, things left unsaid, and more. Oh, and a horrifying cat torture scene that came out of nowhere, so I feel obligated to warn you.
This is the third Murakami book I've read and what all have had in common is that I read them at a gentle pace and I cannot read anything else while I’m in them. And it’s always a world that feels just one or two degrees left of mine. If you love the Studio Ghibli movies you’ll understand what I mean, I think. I love it the same way I can love a painting: not necessarily beautiful but arresting, compelling, accepting there is no one all-emcompassing answer or ending.
Staff Choice: Juno
I have read some of Murakami’s work before this book, and I have always loved his mix of the magical, philosophical and real life. This book, however, is by far the strangest of his I have read. It follows two characters on their journey of self-discovery and growth. It takes place in our world, but with a lot more strangeness that leads to so many different interpretations. I absolutely adored it!