What a Long Strange Trip

Title: Kafka on the Shore
Author: Haruki Murakami
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Rating: A+

Trust. This book is about trust. The characters must trust each other. They must also trust themselves. But mostly, they must trust the writer in an unspoken character/author way. These characters are driven by something otherworldly and unexplainable. They are asked to believe the unbelievable. But Murakami writes in such a natural tone, the reader buys into it too, even at times when the characters are second-guessing themselves. As a review in Publishers Weekly explains, "...his [Murakami's] readers, like his characters, will go just about anywhere Murakami wants them to, whether they 'get' it or not."

Kafka on the Shore tells parallel tales. One of a fifteen-year-old runaway, the other of a sixty-five-year-old man who's not running away, but running towards something even he cannot describe. The young man is wise beyond his years; the old man is "not so bright." Both characters have mysterious pasts that have made them who they are, pushing them in the direction they're both going until finally their paths cross.

Murakami's entire cast is rich with detail and very likable. The philosophical overtones entertwine with the plot, at times giving explanations to the characters of the events around them that seem unexplainable. One of the most influential individuals in the novel is Oshima, a friend to the young boy Kafka. Through Oshima Kafka learns about philosophy and literature. These lessons help Kafka understand the world around him: love, loss, adolescent confusion. Many times, it appears the writer is talking through Oshima. In one instance, Oshima is explaining to Kafka his dislike of people with limited imaginations: "... intolerant, narrow minds with no imagination are like parasites that transform the host, change form, and continue to thrive." As the reader later finds, this is a metaphor for other events that occur in the novel. And with the vivid imagination of the author, it is not surprising these sentiments are shared with the reader.

Kafka on the Shore requires a certain amount of trust from the reader as well, but it is not difficult to give oneself to the stories Murakami tells. The writing is superb, even when he's describing men talking to cats and leeches and makarel falling from the sky. This is a book you carry around with you all day long, even when you're not reading it. That is a sure sign of an excellent novel.