Questions About Kafka on the Shore

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Answered Questions (38)

WHY is this book so loved? I mean, I didn't gain anything out of it. I'm not asking this as an insult. I genuinely want to know what the special thing about this book is.

Christopher Weil I think you need to back up a bit in your reasoning. Why do you need to gain per-se at all? Kafka on the shore can't be fully understood because the a…moreI think you need to back up a bit in your reasoning. Why do you need to gain per-se at all? Kafka on the shore can't be fully understood because the author draws from many metaphysical sources. That plane of thinking is never clearly defined. But, to get a better understanding of Kafka on The Shore you have to read two of his other books, Hard Boiled Wonderland, and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. Furthermore, I don't believe Murakami is popular for writing books that are "telling" and that's the beauty of his writing. Just like Virgina Woolf wrote stories that have absolutely no plot, which was unheard before her doing so. Much of the literature we read has something telling or something directly communicable. Murakami creates, instead, a feeling that is tied to the environments of his characters. You don't always understand what is occurring in a "this is coming together kind of way" to point to a realization about the character or about life. But there is a sense that you get with each event that he constructs beautifully. And the last thing I have to say, and what I am going to say goes well for most of people's contemporary attitudes about most of the material we consume, and that is, we look and value stories by their content. If you want to know why Murakami has gained acclaim just looking at the bizarre events striking his novels, it is not enough. Murakami has gain acclaim also for his writing style, which is clever, crisp--he simply paints well with words. And just as Marcus Bird has commented many of the plot elements that make-up his novels are difficult to pull off while not losing control of his story. Writers probably understand this better. (less)

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I believe I share the dream of talking cats with many in the world. And I love the original Kafka. This novel is making me read and when I don't I think about what will happen next! It is kinda my world that I love to dwell in. It also redefined the joy of reading to me. Silence and attachment.

Croatoan616 Right! That's what I felt, almost right away, MY world and I just want to read. Not even anticipating what's going to happen next, just let me read.…moreRight! That's what I felt, almost right away, MY world and I just want to read. Not even anticipating what's going to happen next, just let me read.(less)

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There are lots of open ends in the novel.. Like in our lives..But normally that does not appeal a general reader. So how does it work in this case?

Jeanne I didn't see the book as open ended at all. The plot is this: Miss Seiki opened the portal to the other dimension because she wanted to be 15 with her…moreI didn't see the book as open ended at all. The plot is this: Miss Seiki opened the portal to the other dimension because she wanted to be 15 with her lover forever. This created a time paradox. Her lover was killed, but her 15 year old self continued to live as a ghost as her other self grew older. As a consequence of her paradox (and maybe having violated a shrine), everything she touched became tainted. Her husband who she met when studying lightning strikes, was made evil and powerful by her touch or aura or whatever. He cursed their son to an Oedipal quest to sleep with his mother and his adopted sister. The mother took the sister (perhaps to protect her from the curse). At the same time as the mother opened the portal, a supernatural event occurred to bring about the closing of the portal and solve the time continuum paradoxes. Nagata was put in a coma to erase his self and make him the instrument of that fate. So Kafka grows up, runs away (like Oedipus) and fulfills his curse (even if only in a dream with the sister). Nagata with Hoshino find the stone. Meanwhile the evil father is building a flute with the souls of cats. One assumes that since there are a number of references to Eichmann's ritualistic extermination of the Jews, that the ritualistic murder of the cats is on the same order -- that the soul flute will be used to control mankind presumably for similar ends. Pure evil, in effect. So after Kafka says goodbye to both his moms -- 15 year old and adult -- the portal is closed by Hoshino squishing the evil black gloopy soul flute bearing spirit of the father. AND THEN IT ENDS. Hoshino, like Nagata, can talk to cats and will presumably roam the earth. Kafka is going back to school to become the real person he would have been if he hadn't had a curse laid on him. Why do you say it doesn't end? It ends right there. There is nothing more to say in the story. All the plot elements are tied up neatly. End of story.(less)

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What was the point of the fish and leeches falling from the sky?? Are they symbolic for something? I have so many unanswered questions and I would love to discuss the book with someone!! Reply if you'd be interested? :-)

Olivia Newton

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)

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I have read this book quite a few times. I also with a dear friend heard it on videotape, the voices are just great. But do I get all the connections by now? No, I don't. If anyone is here can you decode Nakata's relation the Miss Saiki or even Nakata's entrance stone which Miss Seiki address in chapter 42.

Monty I think, if you start looking at this book as less of a riddle, you will be able to enjoy it more.
It is in the author's style to leave a lot of things…moreI think, if you start looking at this book as less of a riddle, you will be able to enjoy it more.
It is in the author's style to leave a lot of things ambiguous and open for interpretations. There might not be a right or wrong answer here. For eg. Miss Saeki neither confirms or denies Kafka's hypothesis, and later goes on to tell him that he was the same boy on the bench. Hence, as long as there is no counter evidence to refute either of those hypothesis, both are true for the individuals in question i.e. For Miss Saeki, Kafka is her long lost lover, and for Kafka, she is her long lost mother.

And, according to me, this is what makes the author's style more intriguing, not the plausibility of individual literary objects/allegories, but the fluidity of the overall story.(less)

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