Kafka On The Shore - Haruki Murakami

A weird, intense, surreal, bewitching world that makes you turn the pages and forces you to decipher the meaning in vain. But still, you feel carried away in a dream like state inside the world of Murakami and feel good at the end for some unknown mysterious reasons.

Two stories interweave.

A boy runs away from his home, at the age of 15, to avoid his father's Oedipal prophecy. He changes his identity to Kafka Tamura; communicates with a boy named crow in times too many; and is determined to find his mother and sister, who left him when he was a child. On the way, he meets Sakura. In his childish fantasies, he considers her to be his lost sister. After many adventures and struggles in the city of Takamatsu, he finds home away from home in Komura Memorial Library. He befriends Oshima (cross gender librarian of that private library with unique music affinity), who helps him in many snafu. He gets attracted to the beautiful but austere Miss Saeki, the head of the library. He imagines that she visits his room at night as a ghost of her 15 year old self. He also spends time in Oshima's cabin far away from the city and explores the forest by himself and finds a surreal world - where he meets the lost, but unaged war veterans and the 15 year old Miss Saeki. Later she cajoles him to return to the real world before it's too late.

An old man, Satoru Nakata lose his memories and intelligence in a suspicious freak accident during World war II. He cannot read but strangly enough can communicate with cats. He lives a simple lonely life in Nogata and earns a bit of extra money by finding missing cats of his neighbours. But his life is changed when he meets Johnnie Walker/ Kafka's father (?) during his hunt of a missing feline, Goma. In this strange world, Johnnie is a peculiar fellow, who kills cat to collect their soul and convert it into a giant flute. He coaxes Nakata to kill him, if Nakata wants to save Goma. Nakata in his utter confusion kills him and surrenders himself to the police. No one believes him, so instead he follows his instinct and decides to leave Tokyo and hitchhike westwards. In his journey he meets Hoshino,a truckdriver, who at first helps Nakata because he reminds Hoshino of his grandfather but slowly he becomes impressed with Nakata and his simplicity and sticks by him to the very end.

The two major characters never meet. But the story is intertwined in an eerie way. They meet in Kafka's blackouts - Kafka wakes up, lost in the city with bloody T-shirt miles away from his father's murder where as Nakata wakes up fresh with the missing felines and clean clothing; in a metaphorical way. The raining fishes and leeches; musical references; repeated diving to surreal world of dreams and ghosts makes the book an unstoppable read.

There is no closure in this book. As my first read 'After Dark', Kafka on the shore ends with too many bubbling questions and a yearning to know more. 

• How did Nakata lost his intelligence? (The strange U.F.O incident during World war II is left unexplained)
• Is Sakura really his sister?
• The strange characters Johnnie Walker and Colonel Sanders dissaparate as if by magic; no explanations on those characters.
• The entrance stone to the strange world, the illuminated pale object struggling to enter the world is not explained. Was that pale object his father's soul who was trying to flee to the surreal world with his flute making skills but stopped by the crow boy in the dream world and Hoshino in the real world?
• Was Miss Saeki his mother? And how come they have got his portrait in the library wall? 
• What was the connection between Nakata and Miss Saeki?

Kafka's world is a strange one with little logic or practicality. And although you are brimmed with questions, you yield to Murakami's resolution of not explaining every little thing in his creation.

You will either love this book or hate it. But in my case I turned out to be a big fan. So indulged in Kafka's world that it is going to take some time for me to start up another Murakami. I want to savour this to a very long time. This book has also opened my way to a different genre of music. Although I am more of a rock music and an occasional listener of Beethoven and Mozart kind, now I am addicted to Schubert's D major piano performances specially Allegro moderato.

Listen it here! https://youtu.be/YlUj9J4Bjz8

My favorite quotes:

• I want you to remember me. If you remember me, then I don't care if everybody else forgets.
• Man doesn't choose fate. Fate chooses man. That's the basic worldview of Greek drama. And the sense of tragedy- according to Aristotle- comes, ironically enough, not from the protagonist weak points but from his good qualities. do you know what i am getting at? People are drawn into tragedy not by their defects but by their virtues.
• There's only one kind of happiness, but misfortune comes in all shapes and sizes. It's like Tolstoy said. Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story.
• "When a war starts people are forced to become soldiers. They carry guns and go to the front lines and have to kill soldiers on the other side. As many as they possibly can. No body cares whether you like killing other people or not. It's just something you have to do. Otherwise you're the one who gets killed." Johnnie Walker pointed his index finger at Nakata's chest. "Bang!" he said. "Human history in a nutshell."
• Listen up - there's no war that will end all wars.
• Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back. That's part of what it means to be alive.
• Chance encounters are what keeps us going.
• It's hard to tell the difference between sea and sky, between voyager and sea. Between reality and the workings of the heart.
• When I open them most of the books have the smell of an earlier time leaking out between the pages - special odor of the knowledge and emotions that for ages have been calmly resting between the covers, breathing it in, I glance through a few pages before returning each book to its shelf.
• Anyone who falls in love is searching for the missing pieces of themselves.
• Memories are what warm you up from the inside. But they're also what tear you apart.
• If you think God’s there, He is. If you don’t, He isn’t. And if that’s what God’s like, I wouldn’t worry about it.
• Narrow minds devoid of imagination. Intolerance, theories cut off from reality, empty terminology, usurped ideals, inflexible systems. Those are the things that really frighten me. What I absolutely fear and loathe.
• Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones.
• Whatever it is you're seeking won't come in the form you're expecting.
• Silence, I discover, is something you can actually hear.
• A certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect.

Happy reading.

I Am The Messenger - Markus Zusak

The biggest fear about reading another book by your recently discovered favorite writer is whether or not the creation will be able to uphold your expectations. So even after buying the book, I was skeptical about starting the book; fearing the worst. Thankfully my fears were poorly founded. 

I am the messenger is a work of art. Not as amazing as The Book Thief (I should really stop comparing books by the same writer; I mean you can't compare a rose and an orchid. They are beautiful in their own unique ways.), but brilliant indeed. Markus Zusak is the "master of the words" and he knows how to trigger the heart strings by them to create magic.

A nineteen year old cab driver Ed Kennedy is not some protagonist you will swoon over. But a simple man ragged with flaws. He lives in a house with his foul smelling dog, Doorman. At times he meet his friends Marv, Ritchie and Audrey for a game of cards or two (in which he is terrible). He loves his best friend, but she is too afraid to lose him as a friend to love him back. His mom complains about him all the time. He is not close with his brother. He is unsure about his destiny; just taking one moment at a time. "I did it because you are the epitome of ordinariness."

But by chance he foils a bank robbery with his friends and shots to temporary fame in his home town. After that incident, he starts receiving Aces of cards riddled with cryptic messages.

At first, he ignores considering it to be a joke. But curiosity takes the best of him and he starts to follow the messages trying to understand the meaning. Slowly he realizes these messages means he has to be part of someone else life and help them get through their big and small problems; he simply needs to care about their lives. He fulfills the task diligently and in the process grows emotionally. 

In the end he realizes he is not the messenger but a message himself. "I'm not the messenger at all. I'm the message." And how a simple act of kindness reflects back to the doer. And how doing things for others means doing things for yourself.

The end is a little stumbling for me but the beautifully woven words make up for that.
A simple morale woven with words so deep that penetrates your heart.
A must read not just for teenagers as suggested but for everyone. I bet you won't stop laughing at the humorous expression every now and then.

HAPPY READING

Quotes

• Sometimes people are beautiful. Not in looks. Not in what they say. Just in what they are.
• It's not a big thing, but I guess it's true - big things are often just small things that are noticed.
• Believe it or not - it takes a lot of love to hate you like this.
• I'm not the messenger at all. I'm the message.
• You can kill a man with those words. No guns. No bullets.
• I didn't know words could be so heavy.
• Only in today's sick society can a man be persecuted for reading too many books.
• Of course you're real - like any thought or any story. It's real when you are in it.
• I realize that nothing belongs to her anymore and she belongs to everything.
• No, I am not a saint, Sophie. I'm just another stupid human.
• Have you ever noticed that idiots have a lot of friends? It's just an observation.
• Things just keep going as long as memory can wield its ax, always finding a soft part in your mind to cut through and enter.
• The night is alive with stars, and when I lie down and look up, I get lost up there. I feel like i'm falling, but upward, into the abyss of sky above me.
• May be one morning I'll wake up and step outside of myself to look back at the old me lying among the sheets.
• It's impeccable how brutal the truth can be at times. You can only admire it.
• I did it because you are the epitome of ordinariness.

The Partner- John Grisham

Though I have not reviewed any Grishams in my blog ( My heart and the diary has a different tale to tell ;) ), the partner is not my first book by the writer and definitely not going to be my last.

A captivating read. The story moves like fluid with mysterious twist and turns, revealing the secrets in its own pace and leaving the readers yearning for more.

Patrick S Lanigan- alias Danilo Silva - a junior partner in a firm in Mississippi in his past, is kidnapped in Ponta Pora, Brazil.

He is supposed to be dead (A victim of car accident four years back, leaving his beautiful wife and daughter alone). Six weeks after his death, $90 million disappears from offshore accounts of his firm. His partners become rattled and slowly the story unfolds- the chase begins.

Lanigan realizes his partners were going to cut him out from his share of profit from the firm, which is involved in defrauding the government through overcharging schemes in a ship building contract. Fed up of his life with a cheating wife, a daughter who wasn't his and double tongued partners in his firm he brilliantly devises a plan and waits to collect evidences. He feigns his own death. After the funeral, he goes into hiding with all the money. As time unfurls, he becomes close with Eva Miranda, an associate in a firm in Rio. Later, she ends up being romantically involved with him and also becomes his partner in crime. 

After his arrest, the trial begins and weirdly enough he is able to manipulate every evidences and circumstances in his favor, but does he succeed? 

Go read the book!

The book has got a perfect amalgam of the law thriller. Government; senator; feigning own death; embezzlement; law suits; theft and ways covered brilliantly using the loopholes of the law.

Immediately after completing the book, I was flabbergasted and my first reaction was - "someone tell me this book has a sequel. It can't end this way. Eva cannot just vanish. She is too good a character to do such a lowly thing. Totally chafed by the ending." But as I re-evaluated the end deeply, I was satisfied with the twist of fate. 

I think Eva stood up for herself at last. She was fed up of being a puppet and pawn of someone else's desire. She wanted to live life on her own terms. At least she had a huge heart to get Patrick off the hook and set him free. I still feel bad for Patrick though. So much brilliance; clockwork like mind; baffling plans; so much physical and emotional assault but ended up all alone, penniless. 

But again, if every sleazy man like the protagonist (yes! sleazy because what the firm did was wrong but his method of revenge was not holy either.), his partners, the senator gets his way unscathed; I would have to start questioning karma. 

Brilliant brilliant work.

A must read by Grisham.

Change Of Heart - Jodi Picoult

I came across this book in an exhibition and since I was going berserk, splurging my wallet out; I ended up buying it along with Murakamis, Browns, Grishams and a hell lot more. (Not complaining though cause this is more satisfying than running to shops trying outfits endlessly and not finding a single one to soothe your soul). 

Anyways back to the topic. The story is nice. But I have read better stories by Picoult. The mentioned religion, gospels were balderdash for me though it plays a central role in the plot (I am not an atheist; but rather a spiritualist as one character mentions it once. And as the book suggests - you follow the religion that your parents follow so I literally have very little knowledge related to things being brought to light in this book again and again). But I believe this book was not about religion and creating boundaries but rather about finding yourself in your beliefs and breaking the barrier of stereotypes. So all is well.

Isaiah Matthew Bourne AKA Shay Bourne, who had a juvie record, is caught red-handed killing Police officer Kurt Nealon and his step daughter Elizabeth Nealon. June Nealon (wife of Kurt) who lost her first husband in an accident is heavily pregnant and devastated. The trials go on And Shay is convicted of two counts capital murder. After much heated discussion, the jury finally decides on death penalty. Michael Wright becomes the last juror to agree. 

After 11 years Bourne is transferred to I-tier at the Concord state prison. Many 'hard to explain with logic' things happen around shay and his fellow mates believes it to be a miracle and him to be a messiah. Shay confesses to one of his fellow prisoner about his desire to donate his heart to a little girl after his death to make amends. The girl is non other than Claire Nealon, June's daughter, who is in desperate need of a heart transplant. He turns out to be a perfect match but his lawyer, Maggie Bloom, has a mountain to climb. She needs to go against all the odds with the jury to suspend the death penalty by lethal injection but opt for hanging so that Shay's heart will be viable for donation.

Michael Wright who is now father Michael from St Catherine becomes Shay's legal adviser because his conscience didn't support killing someone as a capital punishment. He opts for helping Shay out to donate his heart, so both of them can find redemption. He falls for Shay's recurrent quotation from Gnostic gospels and considers it as his religious foundation to defend his organ donation desire in the court.

June is in moral dilemma. She is caught between the devil and the sea. To see her only alive daughter die or take the heart of a criminal who killed her husband and daughter. 

But as always there is a twist in the story that makes you think how can someone be so selfless? Is what you see and what you believe - different things? How do you let go? How do you forgive?

Not a bad plot but I have read better books by Picoult. Not a bad read either but the description part made me halt the book  several times and make a fresh start. If you are too aware of your religion and don't want to mess the morals with your brains just avoid it. But if you do, please keep an open mind. Or just read the storyteller, nineteen minutes or My sister's keeper by the same writer instead.

 Quotes

• I don't belong to religion. Religion's the reason the world's falling apart- Did you see that guy carted out of here? That's what religion does. It points a finger. It causes wars. It breaks apart countries. It's a petridish for stereotypes to grow in. Religion's not about being holy. Just holier-than-thou.
• If you wrong forth what is within you, what is within you will save you. If you don't bring forth what is within you, what is within you will destroy you.
• Did you ever notice how sometimes it's mirror, and sometimes it's glass? There's light inside a man of light. It can light up the whole world.
• Words are like nets- we hope they'll cover what we mean, but we know they can't possibly hold that much joy, or grief or wonder.
• I think finding god is like seeing a ghost - you can be skeptic until you come face-to-face with what you said doesn't exist.
• Family's not a thing, it's a place where all the memories get kept.

After Dark - Haruki Murakami

I have heard a lot about Murakami in recent times; and all were praises about his poetic writing style, thought evoking plots, and his unique approach to deal with stories. I was looking forward  to devour his creations and After dark became my first novel by the proclaimed writer. 

I was perplexed by the plot but amazed by the writing gusto. I have never read a book that could make description so glamorous and mesmerizing.

Eyes mark the shape of the city.

This is a story of just one special and supernatural night in Tokyo before people move back to their daily rise and grind of everyday life. 

Mari is trying to spend a night away from home; away from her sister Eri, who is nestled in a deep sleep for months without any organic cause (intriguing plot). Having her coffee and reading a book (the title is never mentioned) in a restaurant, she meets Takahashi (Friend of Eri).  Takahashi tries to communicate but Mari builds an invisible wall around herself and divulge very little about her purpose of hanging out so late at night alone. Later after Takahashi leaves; a stranger, Kaoru, comes to Mari and asks for her help. A Chinese girl is beaten up ruthlessly in Alphaville and she needs Mari's help to understand the language. Mari helps. She explores the unknown world after dark. 

In the meantime, Eri is in deep sleep and we can see that she is stalked by a faceless masked man; she is trapped in a nightmare and couldn't get out of her mind cage. 

Mari meets several people that night, whom she would have never come across otherwise. It forces her to re evaluate her relationship with her sister. She meets Takahashi again and it may be a beginning of a good long lasting friendship. Every character seems to intertwine in the story somehow, although their real day-light world is extremely different. The story ends with Mari getting back home and sleeping aside Eri.

The story feels incomplete; the strings untied; no closure. You will be searching for logic to all the surreal incidents. Why Eri is trapped in her dreams? Will she ever wake up? What's the fate of the man who beat that Chinese girl? Who was the masked man? Why the after images get stuck in the mirror (It's spooky!)? Will Mari and Takahashi ever meet again? So the book ends with too many 'Wh-' questions. But the writing prose is mesmerizing. May I borrow the word 'poetic'. 

The story moves with a grace of a movie scene. We feel like helpless audience. Or let's say its like reading a screenplay of a movie.

A deep read though the pages are less and the story seems hanging over the cliff without the revelation of any logic. You need to devour the pages.. the paragraphs... the sentences... even words; slowly and calmly to enjoy the fascinating and mysterious night world. Looking forward to more of Mr Murakami's magical works.

• I can't understand nothingness. I can't understand it and can't imagine it.
• Time move in its own special way in the middle of the night. You can't fight it.
• Memories is so crazy! it's like we've got these drawers crammed with tons of useless stuffs. Meanwhile, all the really important things we just keep forgetting, one after other.
• But what seems like a reasonable distance to one person might feel too far to somebody else.
• In this world, there are things you can do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else. It's important to combine the two in just the right amount.
• If you really want something, you have to be willing to pay a price.
• I'm kind of a low-key guy. The spotlight doesn't suit me. I'm more of a side dish- coleslaw or french fries or a Wham! back up singer.