After finding this under my dresser only half read, you may recall from my previous blog post I was not exactly thrilled. However, it turns out that I cannot always be right... The second half of the book was much better with minimal animal cruelty and things actually began to happen.
Quick character/plot line synopsis:
Nakata: An elderly man who cannot read or write, he lives a very simple life as has the unique ability to talk to cats. Numerous hints are given to suggest that he was the child who never fully recovered from the accident on the hill (see the worst 5 books of 2010 if you're not familiar with this yet). In the second half of the book, after murdering "Johnnie Walker", he goes on an adventure searching for the "entrance stone" which he is not yet sure what to do with, but knows it's very important. He can also apparently make various things fall from the sky by opening his umbrella.
Kafka Tamura: A 15 year old boy who runs away from home (his father is later revealed to be the famous sculptor known by Nakata as Johnnie Walker). He makes friends with another boy, who later turns out to be a girl, in the library and he/she is able to get Kafka a job doing basic janitorial work in exchange for a place to live. He develops a crush on the librarian, Miss Seiko, who may or may not be his mother, and in fulfilling a prophecy his father gave him as a young boy, sleeps with her.
Ok all caught up now.
If there's a theme to this book of seemingly unrelated plot lines, it's reality. What is it? And can you fool people into believing in it? At one point, Colonel Sanders dressed as pimp appears to guide Nakata and his truck driver friend, but says he is neither human nor Buddha.An imaginary bird/human talks to people and gives them advice. Kafka has sex with a ghost.
It's a fine line between weird and totally insane and though I grew to appreciate the reality bending existence of the two men, at times the book seemed to cross over into the territory of straight jackets in a padded room. Fish falling from the sky? Really?
In the end, I thought the book was ok. Did I like it? No, not really. But I definitely don't think it would have made it into the bottom 5 books of 2010 had I finished it. The writing is good and the story thought provoking, but the scene of paralyzed cats being cut open hung over me like a cloud and I just couldn't fully invest. Final verdict: skippable.
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