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Kafta on the Shore follows the fortunes of two remarkable characters. Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under the shadow of his father's dark prophesy. The aging Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his pleasantly simplified life suddenly turned upside down. Their parallel odysseys are enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerising dramas. Cats converse with people; fish tumble from the sky; a ghostlike pimp deploys a Hegel-spouting girl of the night; a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-aged since WWII. There is a savage killing, but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle. Murakami's new novel is at once a classic tale of quest, but it is also a bold exploration of mythic and contemporary taboos, of patricide, of mother-love, of sister-love. Above all it is an entertainment of a very high order.
About the Author
Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His books include Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, and 1Q84. His work has been translated into more than forty languages and he has received many honours, including the Franz Kafka Prize. His most recent novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage, sold one million copies in its first week of publication in Japan.
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Mysterious, eloquent, profound and alluring.
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"Wonderful... Magical and outlandish" Daily Mail "A magnificently bewildering achievement... Brilliantly conceived, bold in its surreal scope, sexy and driven by a snappy plot... Exuberant storytelling" Independent on Sunday "Cool, fluent and addictive" Daily Telegraph "Hypnotic, spellbinding" The Times "Addictive... Exhilarating... A pleasure" Evening Standard
Legend has it that on a warm day in Spring 1974 while watching a baseball game Murakami-san had the inspiration to write his first novel, later called Hear the Wind sing.
It won him his first Literary award and is part of The Trilogy of the Rat together with Pinball 1973 and A Wild Sheep Chase .
His career as an writer took off fast and a steady flow of Novels, Short Stories, Articles and Documentaries followed.
The fact that he spent a good part of his life outside Japan, mainly in the US and southern Europe, is maybe the key factor of his growing worldwide success.
The stories and settings are familiar to Westerners and yet there is a distinctive Japanese touch.
ISBN: 9780099458326
ISBN-10: 0099458322
Series: Vintage Magic
Audience:
General
Format:
Paperback
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 512
Published: October 2005
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
Country of Publication: GB
Dimensions (cm): 19.5 x 12.5
x 3.2
Weight (kg): 0.36
Edition Number: 1
