Kafka on the Shore was, uh, fine. it's my first Murakami, and i knew what i was getting into, but... hm. it took me ages to read, and i think that's telling.

i think the first half of the book intrigued me, but towards the mid-end point it started to drag. the ending was great, but Hoshino's role was, uh... whatever. some things, like that, felt pointless. this is not because of the surreal magical realism of the novel-- i actually really enjoyed the magical elements and felt that they added necessary depth to the novel. but occasionally Murakami's application of the magical felt like a cop-out for a lack of ideas on how to tie up certain loose ends (namely with Johnnie Walker, Crow, and Hoshino) (though I did really like Crow's role in the novel, especially that part at the end).

i'm finding it difficult to be articulate about this book, because i feel like it itself is surprisingly inarticulate. it is both heavy-handed and vague in its themes, both obtuse and acute in its emotional tensions. in a way it reminded me of The Stranger in that i understood it yet don't feel as though i truly value the understanding i gleaned from it.

Kafka on the Shore had some great characters that I got excited about when they appeared, but the quantity of characters made some of them feel diluted. Sakura and Sada, for example, are two characters whom I was intrigued by yet felt that they were given little to no attention by Murakami. generally, though, Murakami is talented at creating characters who feel distinct from each other and who each have their own problems, motivations, and relationships with the world around them.

lastly i'll touch on the, uh, fantasies. i think every reader of Kafka will have the same mental hangups and i doubt i'll add anything new to the conversation about that, but i do want to note the intense sexism that seeped from the pages. it felt incredibly self-indulgent on Murakami's part, where i got the feeling that as he was writing the book he simply got bored and wanted to insert a weirdly sexual encounter. i also feel like Kafka (the character)'s sexual fantasies and prophecy added absolutely nothing to the already complex themes of the novel, sorry. 

anyway. i guess i'm glad i read this? but i don't think i'll be reading more Murakami in the future. which sucks. i was really excited for this book, and am a bit disappointed, despite me definitely liking some aspects of it.