Why Kafka on the shore is a masterpiece
If you have read Kafka on the shore, then you have a great taste in books. If you still have not read it, then I hope this article persuades you to do so. Kafka on the shore is a fiction written by Haruki Murakami. What makes it so special that it has brought me to write this even though no one is going to read it? lol. Firstly I would like to introduce you to its unique plot. A 15-year-old boy runs away from his dad and finds a temporary job at a very aesthetic library[ I wish I could work there!]. I am not that good at explaining plots so I will just quote what the book says.
Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under the shadow of his father’s dark prophesy.
The aging Nakata, a 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 harbors 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.”
Yes, you are right. A lot is happening over here. But the way Murakami has put the whole dreamy situation into words is wondrous. Yes, he literally paints a dream with multiple realities. The structure of the book is perfect. The book catches the simple and slow life in Japan but at the same time puts forth the plot’s complexities. It also features quirky and funny incidents. The fact that the book transforms its real-life relatabilities to mystical fiction makes it interesting.
But the real catch forms when Murakami leaves the conclusion to us. This feature gives us the feeling of completing a book on our own. We get the freedom to end it. But the mysterious end leaves a mind-blowing sensation running through our whole body and is what makes Kafka on the shore a masterpiece.