Murakami is a surrealist. His books transcend the
boundaries of plot, character and the logic of reality. One of his most
endearing qualities is the smoothness with which he builds the story. This was
the third Murakami that I read. And after each one I feel like I need to take a
break from his world, let normality be restored. Or else I shall be whisked off
by the cats into some unmapped town and be forever lost.
The story is about a young boy who runs away from
home and an older man who has a mission to fulfill. Both the characters lead
independent lives that intersperse in a small town library. Although the central
characters never actually get to know each other, their story progresses by the
unbeknownst help that each provides the other.
A young teen, Kafka escapes his house to get away
from his father and maybe find his mother and sister, who had abandoned him as
a child. Young Kafka experiences a longing for maternal love as well as the
love of a sister. Because of the premonitions of his father, Kafka develops a
condition that is close to Oedipus syndrome. He believes his feelings to be a
part of his fate.
At the small town library, he makes friends and
finds a place for himself. It is almost as if the place had been waiting for
his arrival for a very long time. Kafka, although confused, is unlike the kids
of his age. He is driven by a discipline that keeps his body and mind ready for
the bizzarest of things. He comes off as a cool, detached, dispassionate
individual. In spite of being in situations that would make most adults lose
their cool, Kafka sails out of the storm and docks safely onto shore.
The storm is when the stories of the young boy and
the old man cross paths. In terms of character complexity, the old man is
simpler and yet more enigmatic. His thoughts aren’t complicated by the
intricacies of standard life. He does things as they come. On his journey across
small towns to the library in question, he finds help from several strangers
who do so because of his simple nature and confounding mission. He appears to
be on a different plane of thought entirely.
The story has many other interesting characters,
each of whom contributes in the progression of the tale in their own unique and
indispensable ways. At the heart of it, Kafka on the Shore is about the very
personal stories that each of these characters take, their lives leading up to
this tumultuous whirlwind of an affair since a very long time. At the end of it
all, they each got their separate ways, entering and exiting like actors in a
play. The brilliance of the book manifests in Murakami’s style of storytelling.
Yet I find some of his themes to be recurrent. For instance: parallel worlds,
out-worldly creatures, incest and inter-dimensional beings. His stories take
some time to be absorbed entirely, for which reason one cannot dive from
one Murakami to the next without pausing
to awe at his marvels.
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