Kafka Tamura runs away from home to escape his father's oedipal prophecy and to find his long-lost mother and sister. As Kafka flees, so too does Nakata, an elderly simpleton whose quiet life has been upset by a gruesome murder. High school & older.
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Kafka Tamura runs away from home to escape his father's oedipal prophecy and to find his long-lost mother and sister. As Kafka flees, so too does Nakata, an elderly simpleton whose quiet life has been upset by a gruesome murder. High school & older.
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Add this copy of Kafka on the Shore to cart. $2.86, fair condition, Sold by BookHolders rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gambrills, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Vintage.
Add this copy of Kafka on the Shore to cart. $3.46, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Vintage.
Add this copy of Kafka on the Shore to cart. $3.47, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill of Colorado rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Vintage.
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Seller's Description:
Fair. This item is in overall acceptable condition. Covers and dust jackets are intact but may have heavy wear including creases, bends, edge wear, curled corners or minor tears as well as stickers or sticker-residue. Pages are intact but may have minor curls, bends or moderate to considerable highlighting/ writing. Binding is intact; however, spine may have heavy wear. Digital codes may not be included and have not been tested to be redeemable and/or active. A well-read copy overall. Please note that all items are donated goods and are in used condition. Orders shipped Monday through Friday! Your purchase helps put people to work and learn life skills to reach their full potential. Orders shipped Monday through Friday. Your purchase helps put people to work and learn life skills to reach their full potential. Thank you!
Add this copy of Kafka on the Shore to cart. $4.96, good condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Vintage.
Add this copy of Kafka on the Shore to cart. $5.15, very good condition, Sold by Solr Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Skokie, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Vintage.
Add this copy of Kafka on the Shore to cart. $5.15, fair condition, Sold by Solr Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Skokie, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Vintage.
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Fair. 2006 printing w/ alt cover. The pages are sun faded and slightly yellowing. There is some crinkling to some of the pages possibly from water. There is a lot of wear and tear on the cover. Some corner dings. This is a paperback copy. There is staining on the text block edges. There are some creases on the spine. There are some tears on the corners of the spine but doesn't effect biding. Fast Shipping-Each order powers our free bookstore in Chicago and sending books to Africa!
Add this copy of Kafka on the Shore to cart. $7.00, good condition, Sold by Book Alley rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Pasadena, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Vintage.
Add this copy of Kafka on the Shore to cart. $7.95, good condition, Sold by GreatBookPrices rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Columbia, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Vintage.
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Seller's Description:
Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 480 p. Vintage International. May show signs of wear, highlighting, writing, and previous use. This item may be a former library book with typical markings. No guarantee on products that contain supplements Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed. Twenty-five year bookseller with shipments to over fifty million happy customers.
Add this copy of Kafka on the Shore to cart. $8.50, very good condition, Sold by Montclair Book Center rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Montclair, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by Vintage.
Where do I even begin with this book? Should I start with the giant Oedipus complex that acts as the building foundation for the story? Or maybe with the author's never-ending quest to connect with the reader on a "deep" level? Or maybe with the lack of understanding of the female anatomy? Or perhaps I should start with the complete normalization of rape, even considering cultural boundaries?
No matter where I start, this book is a gigantic disaster. I regret spending $16 on such a waste of time. The author tries so hard -- too hard -- to connect with the reader on a spiritual level. It was an incessant storm of broad question after question. I never knew that the "what is wrong, what is right" shtick could become so outplayed. There is just no point to this book (or perhaps that is the point); it goes on and on just to end abruptly and uselessly. The characters, not for lack of trying, are shallow. Even though the author equips them with knowledge of philosophy, history, and mythology, they do nothing with it. They just question; they question everything. For. The. Whole. Book. Not answers, questions. "Why do we exist?" "Is it wrong to do this?" "Is it wrong to love?" "Do ghosts exist?" "What if they don't?" "What if they do?" I love deeper meaning in books, I really do. I enjoy books about loss, about cultural/spiritual identity, about finding yourself, etc. This book, however, just seems like it was written for the sole purpose of being deep -- not to instill something in the reader, not to express life as an art or skill, not even to give the reader a break from reality. It reminds me of when I wrote poetry in middle school and used general questions and comparisons to "deepen" my writing. All of the questions and the research that went into this book were just for decoration.
screwdskull
Mar 7, 2008
Great literature!
This is the best book I've read in along time. Such a great use of words and the story could only come from Murakami. You can never tell what's around the corner, although nothing is really all that clarified, I found myself getting increasingly more interested as the chapters jumped from character to character. Definitely a great achievement for Murakami and our luck for being able to read it. One to make you think.
P.S. When this book came out, Murakami told readers to submit their questions about the book, he replied himself to 1,800 replies from more than 10,000.
greebs
Mar 23, 2007
Utterly brilliant
The story takes place in Japan, where a boy, who calls himself Kafka, runs away from home. We learn this is to try to escape living out a horrific Oedipal curse his father has told him he has. Simultaneously, it is the story of an older man, horribly damaged as a schoolboy in an unexplained incident during WWII. Despite his mental limitations, he becomes a central figure in Kafka's life as he's drawn towards him in surreal, dreamlike encounters.
Like I said, summing it up is hard, even moreso if I mentioned that two characters are named Johnny Walker and Colonel Sanders. You might think that makes the book funny, and you'd be right. It's also terribly sad, and poetic, and something else I'm not quite sure about. What I do know is that reading this book feels like I've found another writer whose work I wait for, and what's better is that he has a whole library I haven't explored yet. I could be disappointed, but Kafka On The Shore is clearly one of the better books I've read in years.