Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

One of the conversations in Kafka on the Shore goes this way:

"It's not something you can get across in words. The real response is something words can't express."

"There you go," Sada replies. "Exactly. If you can't get it across in words then it's better not to try."

"Even to yourself?" I ask.

Yeah, even to yourself," Sada says. "Better not to try to explain it, even to yourself."

That's the way I feel about this book. I really can't get it across in words, and I really can't say exactly what it means, even to myself. The meaning is like the truths revealed in dreams, which seem graspable for a moment but then slip away like sand from between the fingers. To report the plot is akin to saying that Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis is about a man who turns into a giant bug. But here goes, anyway, in the interest of information to those who have never read this wonderful novel.

The chapters alternate between two stories: that of a runaway teenage boy who is escaping a (perhaps) abusive father and the Oedipal prophecy that he will murder the father and sleep with his mother; and that of an old man who is simple and cannot read or write due to a mysterious wartime occurrence. Their paths converge, as both are propelled toward a seaside city by mysterious forces. I forgot to mention, the boy awakes one morning covered in blood and later discovers that his father was murdered hundreds of miles away on the same night. I also forgot to mention that the old man can converse with cats and cause fish and leeches to rain down from the sky.

All of this sounds like something that China Mieville or Neil Gaiman would dream up, but their books are to be taken literally, just set in alternative times and places. Murakami obviously intends for his story to be taken metaphorically, and his time and place is present-day Japan. Mieville and Gaiman both provide amusement with their imaginative creations. Murakami provides enchantment, and a dream-like state where profound truths are almost graspable.

I read that the Japanese publishers of this novel invited readers to submit questions to the author in an on-line forum and received a reply of 8,000 questions. That makes me feel better, as I am evidently not the only one left puzzling about the meaning of the book and not the only one passionate enough about it to want to understand more. I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. That being said, it is probably not for everybody. If you can't enjoy magic realism, pass it by.