Kafka on the shore

15. Kafka on the Shore (audio). Haruki Murakami.

One third into it, I’m discovering a different Murakami. Any novel has changes of scene and narrative arch, but on this one, the tone (the so called ‘author’s voice’) and the narrative is so different in each plane that makes me think of an experiment worth of Italo Calvino... but it also reminds me a bit of the few anime films / shows I’ve seen, where the silly, the heroic, the romantic, the erotic and the elegant come right after each other. In a way, the same way that the streets of Kyoto have a Buddhist temple crammed in between a fish store and a sex shop, right next to a fashion boutique.  

The story of the main character, Kafka, is so far the slowest one, full of reflection, introspection, and excruciatingly detailed descriptions and dialogues. In that story, the characters are all logical, sensible, un-relatable and unbelievable; no 14 year old uses that language, has those perspectives on life, at least not in the western world (maybe in Japan is it more plausible?) It does sound too similar to his character on “Norwegian wood”.

the other narrative archs, however, are fascinating, I was particularly impressed on how the school teacher letter to the psychologist, the episode about the erotic dream and the period not only put together two of the narratives (which the reader can see coming anyway) but gives a new layer of depth to both of them. He brings the mundane into a context where it suddenly becomes a catalytic agent, and it works wonderfully.

More to come when I finish the book.