Thursday 22 April 2010

Haruki Murakami - Kafka On the Shore

What I love about this totally wacky, surreal novel is that it still manages to be profound and hauntingly beautiful. It contains loveable characters, laugh-out-loud moments, suspense, horror, grief, and a load of great pop culture references. Even more so, this has a totally non-imposing philosophical message, that makes everything else being written that tries to cover such themes totally pretentious.

How can a book as fun and as engrossing as this still be as moving as some of the most prestigious authors writing today? This is a remarkable novel that manages to touch many emotional and important themes in modern society in a unique narrative. The plot is a roller coaster allowing Murakami to take the reader wherever he wishes to take them, but is able to be regarded as a profound, serious work. Murakami is Franz Kafka's successor.

"Memories are what warm you up from the inside. But they're also what tear you apart."

1 comment:

Maxine said...

I finished this novel today, and I totally loved it. I haven't reviewed it yet and to be honest I don't think could even do it justice in a review. It was brilliant. I did a couple of posts on my thoughts though:
http://caffeineandchapters.blogspot.com/2011/03/early-thoughts-on-kafka-on-shore.html and
http://caffeineandchapters.blogspot.com/2011/04/plot-thickens.html