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Kafka on the Shore is the latest novel by Japan’s leading literary novelist, who developed a world-wide cult reputation with Norwegian Wood. In Kafka on the Shore, Murakami continues with his remarkable combination of profound insight into humankind with a totally credible touch of the fantastical – a unique tour de force. The teenager Kafka Tamura goes on the run and holes up in a strange library in a small country town. Concurrently, Nakata, a finder of lost cats, goes on a puzzling odyssey across Japan. Only gradually do we find how these stories interweave.
Kafka on the Shore
The Boy Named Crow
I do as he says, get everything else out of my head
Chapter 1. Cash isn’t the only thing I take from my father’s study...
My fifteenth birthday is the ideal point to run away from home...
Before running away from home I wash my hands and face...
Chapter 2. The following document, classified Top Secret...
Speaking of children, how many were you in charge of...
It was soon after you observed the airplane-like object...
Chapter 3. It’s nearly dawn when I wake up...
You were on the bus, weren’t you?
When we get back to the bus...
Chapter 4. US Army Intelligence Section (MIS) Report
It was wartime, and I was always mentally prepared...
Was there anything unusual in the air?
After this then...
Chapter 5. I’m asleep when our bus drives across the huge new bridge...
I decide to kill time till the evening...
Right in front of the Komura Memorial Library’s...
‘Are you the one who does the tour?’
At two o’clock I lay down my book...
Our little group starts upstairs...
I take the train back to Takamatsu Station
Chapter 6. ‘Hello there,’ the old man called out
‘I must say, though, that for a human...’
Otsuka stretched out to gaze at the photograph...
‘Instead of being smart, though...’
Chapter 7. At 7.15 I eat breakfast...
I start on my circuit training
He takes the cordless phone...
Chapter 8. US Army Intelligence Section (MIS) Report
So he stated categorically that special weapons...
My hypothesis was this...
Eventually, though, the army concluded...
Chapter 9. When I come to I’m in thick undergrowth...
I notice something dark on the front of my white T-shirt...
I take a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down...
Her apartment’s two blocks from the Lawson’s
Chapter 10. ‘Is it all right, then, if Nakata calls you Kawamura?’
Just then Nakata thought he heard a small laugh...
The two cats began conversing...
Nakata gave this some thought
After saying goodbye to Mimi...
Chapter 11. When I finish talking it’s pretty late
She picks up my T-shirt...
After she turns out the light and gets into bed...
This languid sensation spreads over my lower half...
I wash all the dishes piled up in the sink...
Chapter 12. October 19, 1972
Most things are forgotten over time
We climbed up the mountain...
I’d like to say a few things about young Nakata...
Chapter 13. It’s after twelve, and I’m eating lunch...
I finish the sandwich...
We drive through the twilight city streets...
He listens to the music, humming the melody...
My watch shows a little before nine
I open the curtain at the window
Chapter 14. Nakata visited the vacant plot of land for several days
A week had passed since he first staked out...
Nakata sighed, took out his thermos...
They came to a corner in a residential area...
‘So you really don’t know who I am.’
Chapter 15. Oshima climbs into his Miata and flips on the headlights
It’s after 6 a.m. when I wake up
Sitting in these quiet woods...
Like someone excitedly relating a story...
Back inside the cabin...
In the afternoon dark clouds suddenly colour the sky...
Chapter 16. The black dog stood up and led Nakata...
‘What you want to do is take Goma home’
‘Is the Governor going to make Nakata a soldier...’
Nakata stared at the scene before him without a word
Johnnie Walker started whistling again
Chapter 17. It’s my third night in the cabin
On the fourth day Oshima turns up late in the morning
He takes a small box of lemon drops...
We’re waiting at a red light...
Miss Saeki’s boyfriend died when he was 20...
Eventually Oshima became her assistant...
Chapter 18. Nakata found himself face up in a clump of weeds
Standing at the entrance, Nakata removed his hat...
The young policeman had listened to the whole story...
This was the kind of story TV news programmes lapped up...
Chapter 19. It’s Monday and the library’s closed
The next morning Oshima arrives...
‘Is there one of your superiors I could talk to?’
Oshima picks up her business card again...
‘How could any woman of generous spirit...’
After a while Oshima finishes his lunch...
Chapter 20. It was already past 8 p.m.
At noon, office workers from the nearby buildings...
The young man, Togeguchi, told Nakata...
‘Mr Nakata, what do you think about the way the world’s going?’
Nakata spent an hour at the Fujigawa rest area...
Not long after this Nakata found a lorry driver...
Chapter 21. SCULPTOR KOICHI TAMURA STABBED TO DEATH
Oshima picks up the paper and scans the article again
FISH RAIN FROM THE SKY!
Oshima stays silent for quite some time...
And I proceed to tell him everything
Chapter 22. The lorry Nakata was riding in arrived in Kobe...
‘I’m especially dumb.’
Nakata had a waitress fill his little thermos...
It was impossible for Nakata to go on to public junior high...
Nakata had worked steadily for 37 years at the factory...
Nakata hadn’t seen the sea in years...
Chapter 23. I don’t know if a ghost is the right word...
Around nine Oshima roars up in his Miata...
During our lunch break Oshima hands me a single...
As it gets near closing time Miss Saeki comes downstairs...
‘What triggers people to become living spirits?...’
I listen to the record three times
Chapter 24. It was already 8 p.m. when their bus from Kobe arrived...
Hoshino was born into a farming family...
‘Hey Gramps, so you made it, eh?’
The pain Hoshino felt at that instant was awful...
Chapter 25. I fall asleep for a short time...
All of a sudden I realise...
‘So you’re saying that Miss Saeki maybe found those words...’
Oshima leans back against the counter...
At lunchtime I take over from Oshima...
Miss Saeki glances at her watch
Chapter 26. It was already pretty late in the afternoon...
The next morning they went to the tourist-information booth...
They went back to their inn...
‘Mr Hoshino, I don’t know how many times...’
Chapter 27. It’s 2.47 when I notice that the girl’s here...
The next day, in the afternoon...
Oshima sits down on the bed...
She smiles faintly, and it continues to hover around her lips
Chapter 28. For a man his age Colonel Sanders...
Fifteen minutes later the girl arrived...
Chapter 29. I call up Sakura from the public phone...
‘So where’s our little runaway staying these days?’
I sense a presence and open my eyes
And you’re sucked into a time warp
Chapter 30. The two of them scrambled over the low hedge...
They cautiously continued down the path...
‘Take it home and put it next to your bed.’
Chapter 31. Just after one o’clock I take coffee...
For 20, maybe 30 seconds, we’re lost in our own thoughts
She closes her eyes
Once more I take her hand in mine
Miss Saeki came to my room after nine that night..
‘What are you thinking about?’
Chapter 32. When Nakata woke up at 5 a.m. he saw the huge stone...
Nakata was by the window...
After a couple of hours...
By this time the thunder was deafening
‘So what did this Johnnie Walker make you do...’
Hoshino looked up and swept the room with his eyes
Chapter 33. I get the library ready to open...
In the station I pass by policemen making their rounds...
‘Nobody’s going to help me.’
‘That’s part of your theory, isn’t it?’
Chapter 34. The massive bank of thunderclouds crossed the sky...
With time on his hands...
As Hoshino enjoyed his second cup...
He left the cinema...
Chapter 35. When the phone rings at 7 a.m....
Oshima changes gear to pass a white Toyota...
‘She’s in a very delicate place right now.’
Chapter 36. When he got back to the inn...
‘Enough with the stupid jokes!’
Hoshino threw his belongings into his bag...
‘So,’ Hoshino said, ‘you killed somebody, huh?’
They walked through the pines...
‘As you said, it’s happening.’
Chapter 37. We stop at a town to have a bite to eat...
It’s after two when he gets ready to leave
She’s very different from you
Chapter 38. Hoshino looked up car-rental agencies...
They sat at the table and ate their dinner
At 8.30 they went out to the rental car...
They went back to the apartment at six
Chapter 39. My second day on the mountain passes leisurely...
That night I lie there in the darkness...
I make up my mind
Chapter 40. Next to the sign that read Komura Memorial Library...
‘Is there a particular field or book you’re looking for?’
They picked some books from the stacks...
After lunch, Hoshino stood up...
Hoshino and Nakata read books until two...
The two men returned to the reading room...
Chapter 41. When I go to the woods this time...
I hike along, spraying marks on the trees as I go...
Before long my mind wanders into the realms of dreams
‘Did I really murder my father?’ I ask
Chapter 42. Once the two of them were alone...
Miss Saeki closed her eyes, then opened them...
She laid her hands on top of the three files on her desk
Nakata carried the three thick files downstairs
Chapter 43. With all my baggage gone I can travel light...
As if I’m being shoved from behind by some huge heartbeat...
The boy named Crow continues...
Not long afterwards the two soldiers appear
Chapter 44. They took the three files to a river bed...
‘We can’t do it now.’
Hoshino lifted the old man in his arms...
He let out a deep sigh
Chapter 45. As advertised, the path from the “entrance”...
‘Do you know why people have to do such cruel...’
The place is surrounded by a high, green ridge
I go to the kitchen and look to see what’s in the fridge
When I wake up it’s dark all around
‘They told me you’re 15,’ she says
Chapter 46. After Nakata’s death...
As soon as he got up...
The more he talked...
The Boy Named Crow
The man cleared his throat once more...
Chapter 47. I wake up a little after dawn...
We’re sitting across from each other...
When the sun is a little bit past its highest point...
Silence descends on us for a time
Silently she lets go of me
There still isn’t a soul along the way
Chapter 48. ‘Gimme a break,’ Hoshino repeated
Hoshino sighed. ‘So what is this thing’s real identity?’
He laid all his weapons out on the living-room table...
Hoshino went over to Nakata...
Once he’d closed the entrance...
Chapter 49. Just after nine the next morning...
He takes out a cigarette from the pocket of his T-shirt...
It’s a little before 1 p.m. when we arrive...
‘What are your plans now?’ Oshima asks
Shouldering my backpack, I walk to the local station...
The Boy Named Crow