Kafka on the Shore (2002) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

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• Kafka Tamura: Protagonist.
• Satoru Nakata: the deuteragonist. He believes he can talk to cat and sometimes works as cat finder in his neighborhood.
• Mr. Hoshino: Trucker
• Oshima: Add a description of this character.
• Miss Saeki
• Johnnie Walker
• Colonel Sanders
• Mr. Kawamura: Stray Cat
• Mimi: Siamese Cat
• The Boy named Crow: Alter ego of Tamura Kafka, generally appears when Kafka is facing serious self-doubt or -loathing.
• Yost
• Otsuka
• Yeats
• Imre
• Toro: Cat
• Sada
• Komura
• Okawa
• Illy
• Iris
• Tomei
• Haydn
• Lill
• Jill
• Eichmann
• Sakura

Quotes edit see section history

• “Not just beautiful, though - the stars are like the trees in the forest, alive and breathing. And they’re watching me. What I’ve done up till now, what I’m going to do - they know it all. Nothing gets past their watchful eyes. As I sit there under the shining night sky, again a violent fear takes hold of me. My heart’s pounding a mile a minute, and I can barely breathe. All these millions of stars looking down on me, and I’ve never given them more than a passing thought before. Not just stars - how many other things haven’t I noticed in the world, things I know nothing about? I suddenly feel helpless, completely powerless. And I know I’ll never outrun that awful feeling.”

• “Asking is embarrassing for a moment but not asking is embarrassing for a lifetime.”

• “Taking crazy things seriously is a serious waste of time.”

• “It’s not something you can control. It’s a power beyond you - and all you can do is accept it. You’re afraid of imagination. And even more afraid of dreams. Afraid of the responsibility that begins in dreams. But you have to sleep, and dreams are a part of sleep. When you’re awake you can suppress imagination. But you can’t suppress dreams.”

• “Pointless thinking is worse than no thinking at all.”

• “Only a coward closes his eyes. Closing your eyes and plugging up your ears won't make time stand still.”

  Crow

• “Memories warm you up from the inside, but they also tear you apart.”

• “Anyone who falls in love is searching for the missing pieces of themselves. So anyone who's in love gets sad when they think of their lover. It's like stepping back inside a room you have fond memories of, one you haven't seen in a long time. It's just a natural feeling. You're not the person who discovered that feeling, so don't go trying to patent it, okay?”

  Oshima

• “I’m not trying to die. I’m just waiting for death to come. Like sitting on a bench at the station, waiting for the train.”

  Miss Saeki

• “The strength I'm looking for isn't the kind you win or lose. I'm not after a wall that'll repel power coming from outside. What I want is the kind of strength to be able to absorb that outside power, to stand up to it. The strength to quietly endure things---unfairness, misfortune, sadness, mistakes, misunderstandings.”

• “In our home everything was twisted. And when everything’s twisted, what’s normal ends up looking weird too.”

• “Without those peak experiences our lives would be pretty dull and flat. Berlioz put it this way: A life without once reading Hamlet is like a life spent in a coal mine.”

• “Time weighs down on you like an old, ambiguous dream. You keep on moving, trying to slip through it. But even if you go to the ends of the earth, you won't be able to escape it. Still, you have to go there-to the edge of the world. There's something you can't do unless you get there.”

  Narrator

• ““Things outside you are projections of what’s inside you, and what’s inside you is a projection of what’s outside. So when you step into the labyrinth outside you, at the same time you’re stepping into the labyrinth inside.””

  Oshima

• ““I prefer being unfree, too. Up to a point. Jean-Jacques Rousseau defined civilisation as when people build fences….all civilisation is the product of a fenced-in lack of freedom….The people who build high, strong fences are the ones who survive the best. You deny that reality only at the risk of being driven into the wilderness yourself.””

  Oshima

• ““Which is why I’m living here, in this world where things are forever damaged, where the heart is fickle, where time flows past without a break.””

  Miss Saeki

• ““Only people who’ve been discriminated against can really know how much it hurts. Each person feels the pain in his own way, each has his own scars….But what disgusts me even more are people who have no imagination. The kind T.S Elliot calls ‘hollow men’. People who fill up that lack of imagination with heartless bits of straw, not even aware of what they’re doing. Callous people who throw a lot of empty words at you, trying to force you to do what you don’t want to.”

  Oshima

• ““It’s all a question of imagination. Our responsibility begins with the power to imagine. It’s just as Yeats said: In dreams begins responsibility. Turn this on its head and you could say that where there’s no power to imagine, no responsibility can arise.””

  Oshima

• ““…a certain type of perfection can only be realised through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect.””

  Oshima

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Tokyo, Japan
• Shikoku, Japan
• Takamatsu, Japan
• Kobe, Japan
• Nogata, Japan
• Nagoya, Japan

Organizations edit see section history

• Self Defense Force: Add a description of this organization.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Coming of age: Describe this theme.
• Identity
• The Purpose of Humanity
• Reality vs Fantasy
• Individuality
• The Individual Vs. Society
• sex and sexuality
• sex, romance and love

Errata edit see section history

En la impresión de México en Noviembre del 2008, casi al final, los capítulos 44 y 45 vienen con paginas en blanco, interrumpiendo la lectura.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by Descent into Chaos, and followed by The Line of Beauty.

Preceded by Unless, and followed by The Story of Lucy Gault.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Haruki Murakami (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Kati Linström (Translator)
2. Taimi Paves (Editor)
3. Dan Mikkin (Designer)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (Finalist, 2006, Longlist)
• World Fantasy Award (2006: Best Novel)
• Tähtifantasia Award (2010)
• Kirkus Star

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 895.635

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Contains graphic depictions of sex, incest and references to masturbation. Also contains adult themes, and descriptions of murder.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Historical
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary