mybookjournal

3.5 may be..

I never felt rating any book as perplexing as 'Kafka on the Shore'. Rating this was one of toughest thing to do. At times I just wanted to give it full 5 stars just for the beautiful writing but strangely I could/did not! After a lot of thinking I came to a conclusion of rating it 3.5 but my rating does not mean I did not enjoy this book, of course I did, very much! Murakami’s figurative writing and the surreal world he created was very easy to read and imagine but at same time it seemed very complex and hard to digest. The main reason I am giving this book a 3.5 rating is because it kept me bewildered every time I wanted to reach a conclusion, neither I could connect to any character or their actions nor the story reached its ending at anytime.

Its actually like this - you read a novel and you enjoy every bit of it, also you are almost transferred to that part of the world where author wants to take you, but as soon as it ends and when you ask yourself how was it and what did you make out of it you are unable to explain or put it into words clearly what actually went through inside your brain while you were reading it, well that’s what 'Kafka on the Shore' did to me. While reading this book I could imagine the library where Kafka worked and that odd place Oshima took him to, where Kafka lived in oblivion for few days. I as well heard the song ‘Kafka on the shore’ by Miss Saeki and visualized the painting too. I also imagined what kind of a tough life Nakata lived through out but NOW when everything is over and the book has officially ended I am just unable to make anything out of it. It all feels bizarre that’s it.