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Kafka on the Shore cover art

Kafka on the Shore

Written by: Haruki Murakami
Narrated by: Sean Barrett,Oliver Le Sueur
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Publisher's Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

Kafka Tamura runs away from home at 15, under the shadow of his father's dark prophesy. 

The ageing Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his pleasantly simplified life suddenly turned upside down. 

As their parallel odysseys unravel, cats converse with people, fish tumble from the sky, a ghost-like pimp deploys a Hegel-spouting girl of the night, a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-aged since World War II. There is a savage killing, but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle - one of many which combine to create an elegant and dreamlike masterpiece.

©2005 Haruki Murakami (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

"Wonderful.... Magical and outlandish." (Daily Mail)

"Cool, fluent and addictive." (Daily Telegraph)

"Hypnotic, spellbinding." (The Times)

What listeners love about Kafka on the Shore

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

The Narration is great but Story Disappoints

The book and the author has been so much raved about. This was my first Murakami and I am utterly disappointed. It was such a promising start which held all my attention. But it left so many ends open without any closure that it felt just a waste to have given the book so much of my time. I didn't find any character arc development in the characters except for two, Hoshino and Oshima. One of the main character, Kafka who first got my sympathy just turned out to be absurd and was left without much explanation for his actions. Take out random lines out of the book and it sounds deep and inspirational but not the story line. The events and objects are very much detailed and captures the imagination of the writer, beautiful description of Japanese landscape and architecture but too much of the story is left for for the reader to decipher.

1 person found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Narrators are fantastic!

I loved the narration, their performance is awesome! However, I have mixed feelings about the story.
Regardless will be giving more of Murakami's work a shot as I did enjoy the journey.

1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Perfect first listen on audible

I have a feeling this is a rare instance where the audio book version might be better than the print. First audio book experience and a great one at that!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

An unusual fiction!

So this book is not exactly the usual fantasy fiction I normally read, it's something entirely different.
Kafka on the Shore revolves around 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.

As their paths converge, and the reasons for that convergence become clear, Haruki Murakami enfolds readers in a world where cats talk, fish fall from the sky, and spirits slip out of their bodies to make love or commit murder.

The story unfolds without any agenda or destination, but you are tempted to go with the flow and you cannot resist it. This book left me astounded. I couldn't decide on what to feel after finishing it.

I would definitely love to indulge myself in more of Haruki's work to enjoy this magical realism he puts in the stories.

1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Work of art - both the narrative and the narration

Haruki Murakami needs no introduction, and neither does 'Kafka on the Shore', his magnum opus. But the narration has blown me away. Incredibly captivating!

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Nice book

the book has some fantastic writing and keeps you hooked in but the ending was bit predictable and not as interesting as the whole story line. overall its a good read

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    3 out of 5 stars

A Writer's book

All of it is a metaphor.

No story progression as such but excellently written.

well narrated.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A bit like good paper

Well decorated with unique ideas but bland when it comes to character emotions, it's difficult to get invested into Kafka's story, doesn't blend into this fantastical storyline, feels as if thr character is too self realised, but Nakata's story line is interesting and it had character depth, but even then the random events that happen are never explained which in principle should be mysterious but feels like disconnected plot beats which are just random.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

over hyped

way of telling the story is very good, but tried to make connection with readers by picking characters already known to public.
Didn't like the incestuous part of the story.
Very emotional characters seems unreal.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Meh

Struggled to finish it. Did not understand the storyline. That being said, the artist who voiced these characters did a good job