Kafka on the shore haruki murakami biography

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Kafka on the Shore(海辺のカフカ,Umibe no Kafuka^?) is a novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami ().

John Updike described it as a "real page-turner, as well as an insistently metaphysical mind-bender".^[1] Since its English language release ( PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize-winning translation by Philip Gabriel), the novel has received mostly positive reviews and critical acclaim, including a spot on the New York Times 10 Best Books of and the World Fantasy Award.^[2][3]

Plot summary

Comprising two distinct but interrelated plots, the narrative runs back and forth between the two, taking up each plotline in alternating chapters.

The odd chapters tell the 15 year old Kafka's story as he runs away from his father's house to escape an Oedipal curse and to embark upon a quest to find his mother and sister.^[4] After a series of adventures, he finds shelter in a quiet, private l