Kafka on the Shore
If I’m being honest, this one is getting an extra star for “I’m clearly too stupid to understand this.” I didn’t really enjoy it. Nakata’s storyline was interesting, although it never really amounted to anything concrete. There was a lot of “he didn’t know how he knew; he just knew” which in real life is an interesting phenomenon, but in fiction just feels like a cop-out. And when it all came to a head, there was clearly a metaphor or some kind of symbolism that I just missed entirely. Kafka’s storyline, meanwhile, was full of horniness and potential incest and mostly just made me uncomfortable. Also a bit of what I would consider to be mishandling of a trans character.I loved [b:What I Talk About When I Talk About Running 2195464 What I Talk About When I Talk About Running Haruki Murakami https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1473397159s/2195464.jpg 2475030], and the writing style here was in a similar vein: relatively sparse and matter-of-fact, which I appreciate (though some of the sexual scenes were made all the more uncomfortable by it), but I just didn’t really enjoy or, I think, understand this book. I’ve been told I should try [b:Norwegian Wood 11297 Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1386924361s/11297.jpg 2956680], and I’ve always heard good things about [b:The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle 11275 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327872639s/11275.jpg 2531376]. So I’m not sure I’ll give up on Murakami after this book. But it may be a while before I attempt another one.
