Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under the shadow of his father's dark prophesy.
The aging Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his pleasantly simplified life suddenly turned upside down.
As their parallel odysseys unravel, cats converse with people; fish tumble from the sky; a ghost-like pimp deploys a Hegel-spouting girl of the night; a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-aged since World War II. There is a savage killing, but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle - one of many which combine to create an elegant and dreamlike masterpiece.
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['SO YOU'RE ALL set for money, then?' the boy named Crow asks in his characteristic sluggish mouth]***
(@vintagebooks, 10 October 2011, first published 2002, 512 pages, ebook, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @OverDriveLibs)
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I'm a massive Murakami fan. I've read a decent amount of his work now and he continues to surprise and delight me. I loved Kafka on the Shore. In many ways, it's very typical of his work, surreal, elements of magical realism, weird dream-like moments and a sense that something very odd is going on. I love Murakami's books because they constantly surprise me, I can't take anything for granted with his work and usually have no idea what the hell could happen. I like to be surprised by authors and despise predictability. This was sheer pleasure to read. I still have a few titles from Murakami's back catalogue to read.
