Kafka on the Shore is powered by two remarkable
characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who
runs away from home either to escape a gruesome
oedipal prophecy or to search for his
long-missing mother and sister; and an aging
simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered
from a wartime affliction and now is drawn
toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most
basic activities of daily life, he cannot
fathom. As their paths converge, and the reasons
for that convergence become clear, Haruki
Murakami enfolds readers in a world where cats
talk, fish fall from the sky, and spirits slip
out of their bodies to make love or commit
murder. Kafka on the Shore displays one of the
worldÉs great storytellers at the peak of his
powers.