Kafka on the Shore

The novel “Kafka on the Shore” has sparked a flood of commentary and dialogue. What was striking was the strange, metaphysical, and philosophical atmosphere that pervades this novel, which incorporates music, literature, philosophy, and the Arabian Nights as a margin to structure the text’s ideas.
An old man who can converse with cats, fish that fall from the sky, soldiers who have lived in a forest since World War II, a magic stone that could lead to the destruction or salvation of the world… A strange atmosphere abounds in Japanese writer Haruki Murakami’s masterpiece, “Kafka on the Shore.” As strange as it is simple, it celebrates and defends the magic of life through two parallel, intersecting stories: the story of an old man searching for the lost half of his shadow, and the fifteen-year-old man escaping his father’s dark curse. Between them lie worlds, cities, characters, and quasi-epic journeys, all of which revolve around the search for love, the meaning of death, and the value of memories. This novel not only prompts each of us to reflect on life, but also provokes us to change it, or to change ourselves within it, and to begin the journey of finding our lost compass.