Kafka on the Shore

Another "second time around" author from the list.  This time Japanese author Haruki Murakami. I actually felt this book was much better than the first book I read from him.  Kafka on the Shore tells multiple stories, a very unique and interesting writing style, to be honest, by having the odd chapters follow the life and times of a 15 year old runaway, Kafka Tamura, and the even chapters explore the life of Satoru Nakata.  Nakata was subjected to an end of WWII freakish “light striking from the sky” incident that had him lose many of his mental faculties, though he didn’t seem to lose his strength.  The tales interweave, with two very different people and moments in time, a connection as Tamura’s father is killed by Nakata.  Murakami blends in unusual characters with a return of Greek tragedy, aka Oedipus is back!  Tamura fantasizes about a prophecy that his father shares with him in his youth, you will sleep with your mother and sister and kill your father.  Though he is raised by his father, his mother and sister leave the home while he is 4, without reason.  Through his journey of fantasy/real life intersections, he finds “his mother” and a “sister” figure, or are they really them?  Murakami is also personally fascinated with youthful sex, read Norwegian Wood, which is much more explicit.  His character portrayal of Tamura reminds me of Holden Caulfield, running away from his reality and exploring sex and all other things a young teen often thinks about.  Murakami does an excellent job as author bringing the multiple intersections of human proclivities and fears together using the influence of music, gender roles, and societal good/evil all into this rather captivating story.  The depth and levels of human understanding and complexity are all within this tale.  I rate this fantasy (is it real?) book pretty highly.  Just added another one of his books on my audio player for the next few weeks.  We’ll see.