KAFKA ON THE SHORE

By: Haruki Murakami

The Story:
15-year-old Kafka Tamura runs away from home, both to escape his father's oedipal prophecy and to find his long-lost mother and sister.
As Kafka flees, so too does Nakata, an elderly simpleton whose quiet life has been upset by a gruesome murder. (A wonderfully endearing character, Nakata has never recovered from the effects of a mysterious World War II incident that left him unable to read or comprehend much, but did give him the power to speak with cats.)

What follows is a kind of double odyssey, as Kafka and Nakata are drawn inexorably along their separate but somehow linked paths, groping to understand the roles fate has in store for them. Murakami likes to blur the boundary between the real and the surreal—we are treated to such oddities as fish raining from the sky; a forest-dwelling pair of Imperial Army soldiers who haven't aged since WWII; and a hilarious cameo by fried chicken king Colonel Sanders—but he also writes touchingly about love, loneliness and friendship.

Biasanya aku ngga baca buku terjemahan dari pengarang Jepang, karena bahasa nya ribet banget dan suka ngebosenin. Cuma karena aku suka banget sama judulnya, jadi aku baca juga. Ini adalah buku pertama Haruki Murakami yang ku baca. Walaupun banyak yang bilang, ini bukan masterpiece nya Murakami, but this book is really amazing. It's absurd, seperti kita terseret dalam mimpi indah penuh hal hal magic, time traveller, musik klasik and philosophis world of Murakami. Walaupun storynya mudah ketebak, dan di bagian akhir agak dragging, but absolutely will read another Murakami's