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“Our responsibility begins with the power to imagine.” John Updike has called this book a “metaphysical mind-bender,” and I think that pretty much sums it up. The chapters alternate between the seemingly unrelated stories of Kafka Tamura (and his alter-ego, Crow), a 15-year-old boy who runs away from home to find his mother and sister; and Satoru Nakata, an older man who lost the use of much of his mental faculties during an incident as a boy (a story in itself!), but gained the ability to speak with cats. In my opinion, any novel that features speaking cats (each with their own personalities) automatically gets points. Soon it becomes clear that the two plots are interrelated, in a fantastically surreal, and sometimes confusing, plot. Music, sexuality, Oedipus, fate, self-sufficiency, friendship, and nature all play supporting roles to Kafka and Nakata’s leads. It’s definitely a fun, sometimes challenging read that requires you to piece together riddles without solutions and take your imagination to a different plane. It would be hard to try to summarize the plot or meaning behind the book, because I have a feeling that it could be interpreted in many different ways. No matter what you take away from this book, you will undoubtedly enjoy the rich characters and elegant writing, as well as the truly fascinating idea that the planes of existence aren’t as separate as you may think. If you are on the lookout for a beautifully-written novel that will requires you to stretch your imagination to the limit, I say look no further.

2023-02-21 04:16