Another mind bender of a book. The first half was incredible!! I fell out of my seat and rolled in laughter when I got to page 240 (now don't peek!!). I tell ya, Mr. Murakami does not suffer from lack of imagination when he wrote this book! I found my jaw dropping and was in complete joy at turning from one page to the next. Moreover, the character developments were amazing. Also, the dream/reality sequence was spell bounding. It was a roller coaster riddle of a ride!! Truly an enjoyable read. I think I might have found myself a new favorite author. =]
If you like Greek mythology (or maybe paranormal fiction) then I think you will like this book.
Book's synopsis:
"This magnificent new novel has a similarly extraordinary scope and the same capacity to amaze, entertain, and bewitch the reader. A tour de force of metaphysical reality, it is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cat and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting prostitute, a forest harbors soldiers apparently unaged since World War II, and rainstorms of fish (and worse) fall from the sky. There is a brutal murder, with the identity of both victim and perpetrator a ridddle--yet this, along with everything else, is eventually answered, just as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually revealed, with one escaping his fate entirely and the other given a fresh start on his own."My quote-ables:
"In traveling, a companion, in life, compassion." pg 21.
"...where there's no power to imagine, no responsibility can arise." pg 122.
"It's like Tolstoy said. Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story." pg 145.
"Actually what I'm doing is shifting the analogy, ... One of the most effective methods of argument, according to Aristotle." pg 164.
"...asking a question is embarrassing for a moment, but not asking is embarrassing for a lifetime." pg 235.
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