Kafka on the Shore

I'm still half way through reading this book, but unfortunately the deadline for this blog is soon and i just had to post it. The reason is that it might be one of the strangest books i've ever come across. it's japanese written in 2002 and was translated into english in 2005. unlike other translated books i've read, the language doesn't seem to have lost its quality through the translation. obviously i don't know how it was in japanese, but i was surprised to see the strong style of writing and language. it actually won some sort of translation award.

The story so far goes like this:

There are two different plots, the narrative runs back and forth between the two, every other chapter is about 1 of them. All the odd chapters are about 15 year old Kafka's story as he runs away from his father's house. After a series of adventures, he lives and works at a private library. There he spends most of his days reading.

The even chapters tell Nakata's story, who is an unintelligent old man who speaks to cats, and is because of this, earns money by finding peoples lost pet cats. Then, the case of one particular lost cat puts him on a path that ultimately takes him far away from his home, ending up on the road for the first time in his life. I think his and Kafka's stories are going to meet soon.

It's a great book so far, weird and so full of surprises. Because of the 2 different stories on every other chapter, you can't put it down. i love the creativity of the plot line and style, as well as the fantasy in it,