R E K. (bigstone) - , reviewed on + 1437 more book reviews
Murakami offers a fascinating read about a young man, Kafka, who leaves home at age 15 and an older man, Nakata, whose life is as simple as he is. The story is strange at times but the author connects most incidents with what I believe are alternate universes to explain these unusual events.
The book opens as a group of Japanese school children embark on an outing to collect mushrooms. Suddenly all collapse leaving only the teacher standing. Nothing is unusual unless you consider the overhead flight of a plane. All but one child soon recovers. He is Nakata, once a most intelligent student, now an aging man who talks to cats, lives on a government subsidy, small sums from a brother and what he earns locating lost cats.
It is years after the collapse that Kafka leaves home possibly seeking his long missing mother and sister, and abandoning a mostly absent father. Follow the adventures of Kafka and Nakata to discover what happens as their lives merge and strange events unfold. A ghostly pimp employs a philosophically quoting student who provides sexual favors, soldiers from WWII who have not aged appear, and strange items such as fish fall from the sky. A brutal murder, probably of Kafka's father, seems to have been committed by Nakata. At the same time Kafka awakes with a bloody t-shirt and fears he may have done something he cannot remember,
The reader is led carefully along their experiences as the author ties it all together rather skillfully. It's a read I found myself hurrying through to discover what happens next. Yes, I rather liked this book.
The book opens as a group of Japanese school children embark on an outing to collect mushrooms. Suddenly all collapse leaving only the teacher standing. Nothing is unusual unless you consider the overhead flight of a plane. All but one child soon recovers. He is Nakata, once a most intelligent student, now an aging man who talks to cats, lives on a government subsidy, small sums from a brother and what he earns locating lost cats.
It is years after the collapse that Kafka leaves home possibly seeking his long missing mother and sister, and abandoning a mostly absent father. Follow the adventures of Kafka and Nakata to discover what happens as their lives merge and strange events unfold. A ghostly pimp employs a philosophically quoting student who provides sexual favors, soldiers from WWII who have not aged appear, and strange items such as fish fall from the sky. A brutal murder, probably of Kafka's father, seems to have been committed by Nakata. At the same time Kafka awakes with a bloody t-shirt and fears he may have done something he cannot remember,
The reader is led carefully along their experiences as the author ties it all together rather skillfully. It's a read I found myself hurrying through to discover what happens next. Yes, I rather liked this book.
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