I’ve been reading “Kafka on the Shore” by Haruki Murakami. I ploughed through the first 3/4 of the book but now I’m on page 478 out of 615 it’s very much gone downhill for me.
spoiler
Nakata is my favorite character in the book and I loved the journey with Hoshino. But since Colonel Sanders turned up, it seems to fall into a repititve pattern where Colonel Sanders tells Hoshino what to do and we watch him do it - no uncertainty, no suspense, just following orders. I’m also bored with how Nakata suddenly seems to know exactly what to do with complete conviction, which seems very much contrary to his childlike mind in the first part of the book.
As for Kafka’s arc, I find the philosophical discussions with the other characters anything but engaging. The sex scenes between a teenager and a 50 year old are just disgusting.
Is the ending worth it? I’m reading the French translation, sorry if the characters have different names.
Well, I had a 6 hour train ride ahead of me so I decided to finish the book and I’m glad I did.
spoiler
I still stand by my criticisms of the book, which are:
- The cheap “deus ex machina” in the form of Colonel Sanders giving Hoshino all the answers, and Nakata always knowing where to go. It takes the suspense out the plot.
- The overdone sex scenes. Of course there’s the motive of the Œdipus myth, but this goes overboard. Teenagers don’t usually end up sleeping with whatever woman crosses their path and I certainly don’t need elaborate descriptions given the age of Kafka and the young Ms. Saeki.
Nakata’s passing surprised me. After Colonel Sanders’ appearance, I’d thought the characters are invinicible. But now Hoshino is thrown into cold water and we get some suspense back.
I think the book gives a deserving end to both Nakata and Ms. Saeki. Until their meeting I hadn’t noticed just how strongly they complement each other with both of them being empty in their respective ways. Their end seems to match the theme of closing what was opened after they have undergone their respective journeys.
But one of my favorite parts of the book is in the last chapter: When Sada asks Kafka if he’s seen the soldiers. Up until that point, I’d made a distinction between two worlds. There’s the real world where we have the library, the cafes, the motorway stops. Then there’s the dream world where Kafka meets young Ms. Saeki or where we find the village in the forest. Sada comes into the novel as a more or unless unrelated character dwelling in the real world. With this one simple question he provides (to my judgement at least) the first hard evidence that there is no such distinctions. Both the tangible and the intangible dreams are part of the same reality.
Oh, and Hoshino is just delightful! I wish him well. :::spoiler–___
No matter what anyone could say for (or against) that book, you as a reader should never feel forced to finish reading a book you started if you don’t enjoy it. Your time is too precious.
Books are not perishable goods, you can come back to any book you want in a few weeks, months, or many years. It will still be readable and happy to welcome you. Some of the books I consider my favorites nowadays, aged 50+, are books I could not get into as a teen or as a young adult and that is despite me trying over and over again to read them but then, one day, something happens and that book is suddenly the best thing you have ever read—yep, I’m looking at you, Proust.
I hope to read through Kafka on the Shore soon, so I’m not reading anything past the spoiler mention in your post, but I don’t think you should force yourself to read something you don’t want to read unless you really have to, or if you can see a positive in finishing it i.e. it’s a difficult read for you and finishing it will make you a stronger reader, which is something you want.
I was fifty pages from the end of “Foucault’s Pendulum” when I quit. Zero regrets.
Unless it’s for a course or career training, there’s no reason to stick with a book you don’t like.
Quitting means you have more time to read the ones that will feed your soul.
For me personally it wasn’t. I read through Kafka on the shore and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and for both I thought afterward that it was a waste of my time. There wasn’t any great twist or revelation.
