The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 25 October 2008
by Haruki Murakami
It has been written that there are only a limited number of real stories in the world. Just a few from which to select to describe your life story. Perhaps a combination of two or three of them. Look a the basic threads of life, and it isn't too difficult to find any precedent in ancient mythology. The story has been told before. So, which story is it? For Kafka Tamura, the precocious 15-year-old hero of this novel, the story is Oedipus with a sprinkling of other tales both fantastic and tragic, including, of course, the stories of Franz Kafka. There is less of Kafka than the reader might expect, though, and more of Sophocles. The book opens with a conversation between Kafka and a Boy Named Crow. Kafka is packing up to run away from home, from a mean father and the memories of his mother and sister, who left years before. What ensues, though, isn't merely the story of a boy on his own, looking for the meaning of life . It is also the incredibly convoluted and fantastical tale of Time and Memory, peopled with tragic and colorful characters, strange personal tales, and the avatars of Johnnie Walker and Colonel Sanders. Kafka was cursed by his father with the prophecies of Oedipus, and he wants both to escape the curse, and to fulfill it. It is never entirely clear, on first reading, which goal he attains. But to say that is not to give anything away. The story is convoluted enough that it bears careful reading. We meet also Mr. Nakata, the survivor of a bizarre incident back during World War 2. The incident has left him with limited mental capacities, but also with the ability to talk to cats. His story parallels that of Kafka's journey, and the two are intimately connected and converging. Murakami's story is a puzzle. He has said so himself. The universe has lost track of time, synchronicity and sequence in the lives of these characters. Through them, the universe seeks to put things right. The true thread of their connection is faint, obscured by the highly metaphorical and symbolic language with which Murakami thickens his prose. His writing has a wondrous quality. It is colorful, explicit, meticulous, littered with both beautiful and disturbing imagery. It is a cacophony of sound and fury. There are cultural references, histories, musical interludes and literary excursions. He takes us on a journey of fate, death and comic absurdity. It is compelling and troubling. But it is also a convoluted puzzle that is idiosyncratic to a fault. As disturbing and confusing as the book's imagery often feels, it is also affecting. A journey through a wondrous and troubled universe.
Also by Murakami: [Norwegian Wood]