Ironic Silliness for Well-read, Smart People
BY SHELLY BRYANT I JUNE 24, 2008
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IMAGE PROVIDED COURTESY OF VINTAGE AND ANCHOR
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There's nothing like an oedipal prophecy to mess with a guy's head. That's pretty much what propels the action of Kafka and his alter-ego Crow in Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore.
Intertwined in Kafka's tale is that of Nakata, with his special ability to talk to cats. That ability was gained at the expense of his memory and his ability to read, but it seems to be a pretty fair trade off. Without Nakata's particular skill, it seems that nothing will be made right in the mixed-up world(s) in which Kafka moves throughout the story. Surrounding Kafka with interesting characters like Miss Saeki and Oshima, and Nakata with his traveling companion Hoshino, just makes the novel all the more entertaining.
The interweaving of tales is put together well in the novel, and is all the more interesting because Nakata and Kafka never meet face to face. Though their actions affect one another, and everyone else around them, they are never quite aware of each other, except possibly as vague concepts. This distance between them seems to have something profound to say about the intertwined lives of individuals who seldom give much thought to one another, though the novel does not ponder this in specific terms.
There are plenty of concepts, though, that are dealt with very explicitly. The explicit nature of their treatment makes it come off as a sort of parody of intellectualism. This playfulness reaches its fullest extent when the pimp, Colonel Sanders, introduces Hoshino to a prostitute who quotes Hegel. The discussions between Hoshino and Colonel Sanders about dramaturgy, or between the prostitute and Hoshino about the subject-object relationship, are perfect examples of ironic silliness for well-read, smart people. It never quite goes over the edge, turning into the completely ridiculous, but it likes to walk the line sometimes. That's not at all a knock on the book. Instead, it seems to show just how pretentious intellectualism is.
From the early stages in the novel, I was awaiting a revelation that Crow, Kafka's shadow self, was actually Nakata's displaced soul. The killing of Johnnie Walker, amongst other things, heightened the anticipation for a sort of unveiling of all the fact, neatly tying up the loose ends. But that revelation is never made in the book, and the enigma of the relationships that might exist between various characters (Nakata and Kafka, Kafka and Oshima, Kafka and Miss Saeki) remains with the reader. I am one of those readers who liked the ambiguities with which the novel ends, while appreciating those bits of resolution that we are offered by the text.
All in all, Kafka on the Shore is not only a real page-turner, but it is a very satisfying read and a book that invites you to revisit it over and over again.
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