Taufiq Yves's Reviews > Kafka on the Shore

This is a crazy read!

Having gotten my hands on Kafka on the Shore, I couldn't put it down and read it through the night. This time, Haruki Murakami’s sorcery and magic are unleashed with such force that it's impossible to resist.

This novel follows the story of a young boy named Kafka Tamura, who, under the weight of his father's sinister curse, takes a night bus to Takamatsu and finds work in a small library in the suburbs. What secrets does the extraordinary librarian Oshima harbor? Is the beautiful librarian Saeki really Tanaka's mother? Will he truly fulfill the Oedipal prophecy of sleeping with his mother and sister, killing his father?

It can be seen as a mind-boggling dream, in which horrific events unfold inexorably. As the dream ends, our world is also transformed along with it. All these bizarre incidents are narrated in Murakami's characteristically neutral and gentle tone, with a wealth of details that are vivid and lifelike yet restrained and not overly embellished. When I finish reading, I can't help but ask: Is this really a dream?

In many of his works, Murakami frequently mentions the concept of "the edge of the world." What is the edge of the world?

To escape the police, Oshima drives at high speed, taking Tanaka to a cabin at the edge of the forest, accompanied by Schubert's piano sonatas. This cabin, I could say, is the edge of our "normal" world. Here, shadows gradually envelop, and another world begins to emerge, hidden deep within the vast forest. What is that world? Hell? Death? Original sin? The unconscious?

This is the forest that Dante Alighieri trembled before in The Divine Comedy, and the dark pine forest where Nathaniel Hawthornes Goodman Brown discovered his wife's secret. Even in an extended sense, it is the Norwegian Forest that seduced Watanabe and swallowed up Naoko, deep, dark, and terrifyingly beautiful. It is because Tanaka Kafka has been far removed from the hustle and bustle of the world that he is able to wander on the edge of the world, finally breaking through the boundaries at all costs, returning to the womb, comprehending the truth, facing his own sins, and reaching the heart of darkness.

The other parallel line in the novel tells the story of the strange old man Nakata, who is as innocent and pure as a child. Due to war trauma, he has lost all his memories and lives a very simple life on a meager pension, even unable to buy tram tickets. However, he can understand cat language and can summon fish and leeches to fall from the sky. Nakata is also a figure who wanders on the edge of the world. His brain is a vast void, and it is precisely because of this that he is closer to the truth than anyone else, or rather, he is the truth.

Unable to bear the cruel torture of cats by someone who calls himself Johnny Walker, Nakata kills him and embarks on a journey to close the gates of the world. This line is closely linked to Tanaka's inner journey. Nakata faces the cruelty and evil of the external world, while Tanaka faces the temptations and sins of the heart. In the end, these two lines converge in Takamatsu. External sin and internal sin, are these not two sides of the same coin?

It is precisely on this point that Kafka on the Shore is both a fantasy myth and a work that faces reality. The question is, can external sin be ended with a sharp knife, and is internal sin so easily erased?

On the surface, Kafka Tamura seems to be stronger and braver than Oedipus Rex, who only knows how to escape, while Tanaka dares to take the initiative to break through the barriers and go straight into the forbidden zone. However, the overcoming of sin is also the completion of sin. The core of this eternal tragic fate has not changed much in the two thousand years since then.

Perhaps Murakami’s meaning can be understood in this way: we are all lost souls, and there is no salvation that is pure and perfect. The important thing is that we are on our way. Perhaps.

Crazy Murakami. But honestly, it is his unique blend of realism, fantasy, and philosophical exploration that completely captivated me.

5 / 5 stars

My other reviews of Murakami's Work:
The City and Its Uncertain Walls
Norwegian Wood
1Q84
Hear the Wind Sing
Kafka on the Shore
Sputnik Sweetheart
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
South of the Border, West of the Sun
After Dark